Don't Speak
by Whitewave42
Summary: Four years after a tragedy Maura's life has changed dramatically. How will an unexpected meeting change things? Set sometime after season 5, only minor spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

Hi all!

So, welcome to a new story! This has been a combined effort with JaneyGWF, she has provided the inspiration, the guidance, the beta-ing and the support to get this out to you guys! Please go check out her story!

With no further ado, I hope you enjoy this new adventure!

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Doctor Maura Isles stumbled into her house, clumsily closing the door behind her as she carelessly kicked off her heels. The shoes clattered against the wall, forgotten and ignored. She weaved her way over to the kitchen bench, depositing her purse before making her way to her nearby stash of wine.

The evening had been a quiet affair; a few friends gathering at the Dirty Robber to commemorate the passing of an anniversary. Nobody had sent out invitations or passed the word around; everyone had just known where to go. They still shared the bond of friendship, despite the passage of time, despite the trauma of life's inevitable challenges, despite the distance that sharing a loss naturally creates.

Maura didn't quite remember who had encouraged her to take a cab and get home, but she was grateful that they had done it before she started making a fool out of herself. She was starting to wallow and talk, a bad combination. Secret feelings and uncomfortable truths tended to pour unimpeded from her lips in such a state, and she didn't ever want to burden those who still tolerated her oddness with more discomfort. She felt fortunate to still have people who cared about her at all; making it more challenging to care was something she avoided at all costs. It didn't matter how she felt or how much she wanted to give in and let someone else bear her troubles for just one night; it wasn't an option.

Maura glanced down to find half the bottle was already gone. She squinted in confusion, not remembering pouring or drinking, before she shrugged, grabbed the bottle, and moved towards the couch.

The ungainly collapse onto the couch made her head spin giddily. She leaned over to lessen the impact, finding a comfortable position that would allow her to continue chugging the crimson liquid directly from the bottle. She stared blankly at her TV, feeling no desire to watch it. She had barely turned it on for the last four years. Not since the event that they had wordlessly marked tonight.

As she tried to smother her thoughts with the comforting fuzziness of wine and spirits she reflected that she was once again unsuccessful. As always, her thoughts inevitable spun around to the subject that could cause her to burst into tears in the middle of a conference, or reduce her to a whimpering, dangerous mess during a critical autopsy. It hadn't caused her termination at work yet, but she had been forced to take personal leave three times in the last two years to get her head straight. She still wasn't right, and everyone knew it, but she managed to at least recover her professional ability. She reconstructed the icy mask that was Dr Isles, Queen of the Dead, and left Maura at home. She built her persona with the mortar of indifference and separation, leaving all friendship and emotion outside her morgue.

But here, in her once safe sanctuary, she felt it all. She felt the loss. She felt the emptiness. She felt the hole in her life that had once been filled with a person. Although she still worked, still exercised, still talked to her friends, still lived, all the spark was gone. There didn't feel like a point to all of these activities, she just continued them out of habit. There was no light at the end of any tunnel; there were only trains to avoid.

Maura raised the bottle again, only to discover that it was empty. She dropped it with a sigh of disappointment. It rolled across the floor, echoing eerily in the empty house. She watched it until it slowly came to a stop, away from everything, not even making it to the wall or shattering. Not making an impact. Unimportant.

As she closed her eyes and drifted off into her usual world of nightmares, she had one thought. It was the same thought that had haunted her for the last four years. It was the same thought that she couldn't imagine ever being rid of.

It was her mantra. The stone around her neck. Jane.

I miss you Jane.

I wish you were here.

I need you.

Darkness took her and wrapped her chokingly, pulling her deeply into her subconscious. There were demons here; pain, anger, wrath, jealousy, envy, grief, sorrow, desperation. The demon she feared most reared its head last of all; truth. It taunted her as she realised that once she left this place there was nowhere better to go to. She would still be alone. It was a familiar realisation; one she experienced every night, but it still hurt as much as the first time. It seared through her, the pain stripping her bare and leaving her without hope.

She rocketed off the couch as she burst back to consciousness, her shin hitting the low table as she tottered across the room before hitting the ground, her limbs tangling painfully. A dull ache throbbed from her cheek which had collided with the edge of the bookshelf. She sighed as her mind caught up with her body. It wasn't the first time she had woken up in this manner, and wouldn't be the last. Judging from the light streaming through the windows it was time to get up, wash off the last day and get ready for the next one. There was no reason to think it would be any different from any that had preceded it, but Maura had stopped questioning why she continued to persist with her routine. To begin with, it was in the hope that someday she would recover and want her life again. Then it was to maintain the environment for the people around her: to provide a constant that they could draw comfort from. Now it was just because she couldn't be bothered figuring out what else to do with her time.

Her morning routine happened without Maura really noticing. She grabbed the first clean outfit she could find, not bothering to consider whether she had worn it before. Noticing it was black she selected a pair of shoes that vaguely matched. She threw on some makeup mostly to try to cover the obvious signs of her hangover and the angry bruise blossoming on her cheek.

Before she left her room she glanced in the mirror and paused. For some reason she noticed her reflection, really noticed it, for the first time in months. Her hair was flat and lifeless, there were new wrinkles forming around sunken eyes, her mouth seemed to be incapable of smiling. Maura wondered briefly when she had become this stranger, before retreating back into her comfortable numbness. It was easier not to notice, not to care.

The day drifted by with nothing making much of an impact. A murder suicide was brought to her attention; the autopsy easily completed and signed off before she went for lunch. She had her usual salad, then returned to the morgue to complete some outstanding paperwork. It had been a slow month, which meant nobody came to bother her. She preferred it that way; it made it easier to avoid the pitying looks when people just avoided her.

After she got home, exhausted from the tedium of the day, she decided a run would be a good idea. Sometimes during a run her brain went blank and she could relax into the motion, forgetting the cruel facsimile of life that her existence had turned into. This was one of those days; the pavement disappeared beneath her sneakers, her mind leaving her thoughts behind and allowing her a moment of blissful peace.

Suddenly the spell was broken. She found herself in a park, a mostly empty park. The light was fading, the sun having set fifteen minutes ago. She looked around, not seeing anything suspicious but suddenly feeling unsafe. The surge of adrenaline was a welcome change from her usual apathy, but she still turned around and headed for home. She might be noncommittal towards her life, but she still didn't want to risk it unnecessarily.

As she left the park she continued to feel uneasy. She felt like there were eyes on her, burning through her as she ran. She picked up her pace, feeling muscles protest as she pushed them further than usual. The feeling persisted, only intensifying as she neared her house. She whipped her head around, trying to identify the source. As she reached her door she scrambled for her keys, fumbling in her panic. As she finally got the key into the lock she heard a footfall behind her.

Instead of swinging wildly or screaming, she let out a defeated sigh. If her life was to end, she would try to go out with some dignity. She slowly spun around to look her assailant in the eye.

The woman standing before her looked like she had been through hell. Her bald head was littered with scars, new and old, consistent with injuries and surgical procedures. Her face was marred with a long, healed slash that meandered its unsettling way from the right of her chin, across her mouth, across her left eye socket, joining with the cluster of scars at her temple. Her stance and posture suggested strength and resolve, but her limbs were lean; the muscle standing out beneath pallid flesh. Her breathing was ragged, as if after a long run; her face was drawn and pale. Her expression was contorted in confusion as her eyes stared through Maura questioningly, demanding something that Maura didn't understand.

Maura felt her knees grow weak, her hands grow clammy, her breath leave her chest in a frenzied rush. She focussed on those eyes. She knew those eyes.

"Jane?"

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So, what did we all think? Please let us know if you have any reactions, suggestions, niggles, exclamations of joy, anything really! There is more to come soon!

Also on another note, the voting is now open for the Rizzles fan awards! Head on over and make sure your favourite authors get the kudos they deserve!


	2. Chapter 2

Hi All! Thanks for the enthusiastic response to this story! Please keep those reviews coming, we need to know what you like if we are to keep doing it!

Just to reiterate; these two are platonic friends in this universe. Just so there's no confusion.

Thanks again to JaneyGWF for the help and inspiration!

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Maura was frozen in shock. She had experienced this hallucination before; she saw Jane all the time on the street, in the face of a random stranger. One of her forced leaves from work had been the result of a murder victim who was Jane's spitting image; Maura's mind had shut down on seeing what she thought was Jane's lifeless face.

But this time was different. Whenever she had seen Jane in the past, she had looked the same; happy, healthy, laughing, brightening the day of everyone around her.

This Jane looked like she had been through a lengthy, prolonged ordeal. Her beautiful hair was gone, replaced with clear signs of years of abuse. Her bare arms showed signs of bruising and healed scars. Her clothes were ragged, hanging off her skinny frame as well as being torn and dirty. Her skin was filthy, as if she had been living outside for weeks, if not months.

Maura was jarred out of her trance when she saw tentative movement. A familiar scarred hand was reaching towards her. She couldn't move as the hand settled over her bruised cheek, the touch gentle as it probed the injury site. She inhaled sharply at the sensation of fingers on flesh; there really was someone in front of her. She was real.

Maura continued to look into those familiar eyes, seeing a question forming there as the hand left her face.

Finally she found her voice. "I…I fell. Jane…."

Maura realised they were standing on her front step and it was getting cold. "Come inside, please."

She reached behind her to unlock and open the door, not wanting to take her eyes off Jane in case she disappeared. She slowly reached out a hand towards Jane, who allowed her hand to be grasped. Maura pulled gently, guiding her inside. Maura felt Jane's muscles tense as she closed the door, only relaxing when she turned the lock and checked it. Jane looked extremely skittish, but she allowed Maura to pull her into the kitchen, her eyes remaining fixed on Maura's face the entire time.

Maura let go of Jane's hand, moving to turn on the light. The bright glare seemed to unsettle Jane further, but she didn't move away. Maura decided to sit down on one of the stools before her shaky legs gave out, pulling another stool out for Jane as she did so. Jane didn't move, continuing to stand away from the counter and stare at Maura questioningly. Jane still hadn't spoken a word.

Maura knew she needed answers, but spoke gently to try to calm Jane down. "Jane, where were you? I thought you were dead; we all thought you were dead. We never found your body, but when we couldn't find you….Where were you? What happened?"

Jane's expression became confused, as if she didn't understand Maura. She didn't move from the spot where she was standing, continuing to stare at Maura long after it would be considered polite to stop.

Maura frowned in frustration. "Jane? Can you understand me? Please, I've looked for you for so long, I need to know where you were! Why didn't you contact me? I needed you and…."

Jane was still staring, but her eyes were full of agitation and confusion. Maura realised she looked like she was about to run. She knew she couldn't risk that; she'd only just found her again.

Maura took a deep breath. Answers weren't important right now; she needed to start thinking like a doctor. "Are you hurt? Are you injured anywhere?"

Jane didn't react, her expression relaxing back to a more neutral gaze.

Maura decided to be less hesitant. She got up from the stool, her training shoring up her frazzled emotions and allowing her some clarity. "Come on, let's get you changed and clean."

Jane silently allowed Maura to lead her to the bathroom. She waited patiently while Maura ran a warm bath, not moving from where she had been positioned or shifting her gaze. Maura felt like Jane was trying to memorise her face, or remember it, she wasn't sure which. It had seemed like Jane remembered her, but now Maura wasn't so sure. She wasn't acting anything like the old Jane, or like a fully functioning human at all. Apart from following Maura home she hadn't shown any independent action at all. This became awkward when it was apparent Jane wouldn't be taking her own clothes off. Maura repressed her feelings of embarrassment at seeing Jane without any barriers, burying them under her professional mask and setting her mind to the task ahead.

Jane passively allowed Maura to pull off the filthy clothes she was wearing and move her into the bath. The water discoloured instantly, the dirt and filth on her skin seeping off into the clear liquid at an alarming rate. Maura allowed Jane to soak for a moment before pulling out the plug and starting fresh water flowing in to replace it.

Maura found herself needing to hold in a sob when the dirt started to fall away, revealing the condition of the body underneath it. She could see multiple surgery scars on her abdomen, her shoulders, her arms, her legs, her back and neck. There was barely any part of the revealed skin which was clear of marks. Maura could see several places where there had been something implanted under the skin; alien intrusions distended the fragile flesh into foreign shapes. Jane didn't appear to be malnourished, but her body had changed subtly, gaining more muscle while losing some of its softness. Her previously lanky body now looked dangerous and capable, although her manner was so passive it was hard to imagine how she could cause anyone harm.

Maura blinked back the tears that threatened to fall when she realised Jane was still staring, her eyes crinkled in confusion. Not wanting to upset Jane, Maura got her emotions under control and busied herself carefully cleaning off the exposed skin with a wash cloth. She was as gentle as possible, not wanting to irritate any of the wound sites. Some had been expertly repaired, but others looked as if they had been left to heal unassisted, leaving ugly puckered scars. Maura was desperately trying not to speculate about the procedures Jane must have endured to end up with the scars that laid out her pain like a roadmap. The agony she must have gone through….

Finally Jane was clean. Maura prompted her to stand and carefully wrapped her in a towel, rubbing her arms carefully. Jane continued to stand passively, neither assisting nor protesting. Her eyes continued to stare through Maura, giving nothing away.

Once Jane was dried, she led her into the bedroom. Maura would be embarrassed to admit to anyone how many items of Jane's clothes she had held on to after her disappearance, but they would come in handy now. She quickly located a pair of sweats and a jersey, getting Jane into the clothes with no resistance. Despite the familiar attire, Jane looked nothing like her old self.

Maura couldn't take Jane's silence any more. "Jane, please give me something to work with! Anything! Please?"

Jane looked confused again. Maura moved closer, touching Jane's face gently. "Please, do you remember who I am? Do you remember anything?"

Still nothing. Jane didn't react to the hand on her face, she just continued to stare.

Maura huffed in defeat, not quite knowing where to go from here. Her first thought was to call someone, to tell them that Jane was back, but she didn't know if that was the right thing for Jane.

"Do you want me to call someone? Your mother? Your brothers?"

Jane didn't react again.

Maura threw her hands in the air, fighting the urge to cry from frustration and fear. Whatever had been done to Jane had obviously traumatised her, and Maura didn't know what to do about it if she couldn't get Jane to react to anything.

"Okay, we're going to go downstairs and eat something. Okay? Do you understand?"

Maura moved towards the door, not pulling Jane this time. She wanted to see if she could get Jane to follow under her own steam. After a few long moments of frowning and confusion Jane got the idea and started following, her steps quiet and reserved. Maura noted the change in Jane's gait worriedly; Jane had always shown her personality in her bold swagger. This subtle change in body language spoke volumes about her experiences, as did her continued silence.

Jane watched curiously as Maura prepared an easy meal for them both. She moved around the kitchen surely, trying to make Jane feel comforted by the return to their old routine. Unfortunately Jane wasn't participating, which made Maura feel like she was forcing things, but she didn't know what else to try.

Maura plated up their meal, a simple salad, and grabbed some cutlery, walking over to sit on the couch. Jane trailed after her hesitantly, standing awkwardly next to the couch. Her eyes were asking Maura what to do.

Maura decided to be more forceful; she was tiring quickly of her gentle approach and her frazzled emotions had diminished her patience. She put her hands on Jane's shoulders, pushing her firmly towards her usual seat. Jane looked alarmed, finally tearing her eyes away from Maura to assess where she was being directed. When the back of her legs found the edge of the couch she put her hands out as if to balance, her legs bending awkwardly. She fell into the seat, making it seem like she didn't really remember how to sit. She looked bewildered, her eyes and hands frantically exploring her new location before she slowly relaxed.

Maura watched the whole debacle with contemplative eyes. When it seemed like Jane was settled and wouldn't jump up she carefully handed Jane her plate and cutlery. Jane grasped the offered items but didn't seem to know what to do with them. She looked at them appraisingly before looking back at Maura, more questions appearing in those expressive eyes.

Sighing in resignation, Maura guided Jane to place the plate on her lap, positioning the fork in Jane's hand and guiding it to the salad. After spearing a mouthful she guided the food towards Jane's mouth, nudging her lips with the food until her mouth reluctantly opened. Maura took the opportunity to check Jane's mouth for injuries; her tongue looked pale but intact, her teeth were still there, there was no sign of blood. It seemed as though Jane's silence was by choice rather than by physical impairment, although Maura couldn't be sure unless she performed a more in depth examination.

Maura guided the mouthful between Jane's teeth, hoping her natural instincts would take over from here. Thankfully they did, with Jane biting down on the mouthful and starting to chew normally. Maura sighed again, this time in relief, and moved to her own plate. She started eating, watching Jane carefully to ensure she didn't choke. They sat in strained silence while they finished their meal, neither able to look away from the other.

Maura's mind was spinning. She had thought Jane was dead for four years, and yet here she was. It obviously hadn't been Jane's choice to stay away; her body showed signs of captivity, abuse and possibly experimentation. Her mental state was impossible to gauge unless she started talking, but she clearly wasn't the same woman. Maura didn't know what to make of this turn of events, where they would go from here, or how to feel.

She did realise though that underneath all the stress and confusion she was ecstatic that Jane was alive. She had missed her friend terribly; her life felt like it was over as soon as Jane wasn't in it. She had tried to rebuild her life and move on in as many different ways as she could, but nothing had ever worked. She knew she needed Jane, and she was going to do whatever she could to help her friend find herself again.

Maura busied herself with cleaning up the dishes. She washed them by hand, wanting a few seconds alone to compose herself. She didn't hear Jane move, and was momentarily grateful that Jane didn't seem to be capable of moving around without instruction.

Maura almost jumped into the sink when she spun around to find Jane right behind her. Jane looked apologetic as Maura put a hand to her chest, breathing heavily as she tried to calm down after her fright. Jane watched worriedly as Maura's breathing grew shorter and more panicked, her hand gripping the edge of the sink for support. It seemed her nerves had reached their breaking point and she was heading for an anxiety attack.

Maura suddenly felt a hand on her arm, gently grasping her wrist and pulling it away from her chest. She looked back at Jane, finding sympathy and sanctuary in those deep eyes. Her breathing calmed without her realising, her body subconsciously responding to Jane's presence with a feeling of safety and comfort. Without permission Maura suddenly moved forward, wrapping her arms around Jane tightly.

"I missed you Jane, I missed you so much."

Jane didn't tense or react badly, her arms hanging awkwardly before one moved to return the hug weakly. Maura closed her eyes and allowed a relieved tear to fall, her restraint almost at its limit.

Finally she pulled back from the hug, hurriedly wiping her eyes and smiling hesitantly at Jane. Jane was still looking at her with a contemplative expression, her gaze shifting to the bruise on Maura's cheek.

Jane's hand moved up to gently touch Maura's cheek the same way that it had on the front step. Maura hadn't realised she held something in her other hand until Jane raised the empty wine bottle that she had left on the floor after last night's binge. Maura flushed in embarrassment when she realised Jane must have deduced the cause of her 'fall'.

She swung her eyes away from Jane's questioning stare, taking the bottle and moving to the recycling bin to dispose of the evidence. She moved back to Jane, trying to work out what to say. Jane was still obviously waiting for an answer, her eyes becoming more insistent the longer Maura dithered.

Maura took a deep breath. "It was the anniversary of your disappearance yesterday, Jane. I just wanted to forget for a while. It didn't really work; I've never been able to forget about you, not even for a day. Our lives were just too entwined, and when you were gone my life just didn't work anymore. I tried to move on, I tried to make other friends, but I just couldn't. You're irreplaceable Jane."

Jane listened intently, her gaze growing more intense as Maura explained how she felt. She seemed to think it over, then pulled Maura into a hug, a proper hug that comforted and reassured like the ones they used to share. Maura couldn't resist a sob this time, and continued as she felt Jane's hand rub reassuringly over her back.

They remained in their embrace for many minutes, both needing the contact. Maura inhaled Jane's scent, noticing that it had changed. It somehow seemed more artificial, like there were industrial chemicals mixed in with the normal smell that Jane had always had. She was worried by the change; since Jane had bathed the scent had to be intrinsic to her rather than a remnant of an external factor, which must indicate some changes in her basic chemical makeup, and Maura couldn't begin to hypothesise the implications.

As Maura pulled away she stifled a yawn. It had been several hours since Jane had turned up on her doorstep, and the overwhelming emotions of the day had exhausted the doctor. Jane gave her a concerned look before moving back towards Maura's bedroom, looking back demandingly. Maura smiled; it seemed like Jane was regaining some of her autonomy and acting more like her old self, even if she was expressing the sentiments differently. If this inability to speak continued Maura couldn't wait to see how she watched a Red Sox game.

Realising her fatigue was making her thoughts skitter into silly places, Maura moved with Jane to her bedroom. She indicated for Jane to wait and went to her closet, changing into her sleepwear. Jane stood patiently while Maura went through her nightly bathroom routine, which had shortened significantly since the last time Jane witnessed it. Maura was met with another questioning look as she left the bathroom.

She glanced back at the bathroom, understanding the question. "I don't really have the patience for all the ridiculous products I used to use. I don't see the point anymore; I'm not really the social butterfly I used to be."

Maura saw more of the old Jane in that moment than she had all night when one of her patented 'really' looks crossed her face. Maura couldn't help the bark of laughter that burst from her lips, a genuine smile invading her face at the same time. "Oh shush. Let's go to sleep, we'll figure this out in the morning."

Maura moved to her usual side of the bed, indicating that Jane should get into hers and pulling back the covers for her. Jane looked confused again, carefully watching what Maura did before copying her motions and getting into the bed. She looked awkward, similar to when she had sat down before. It was as if she hadn't sat or laid down in so long that she had forgotten how.

Maura reached for the light before reconsidering. "Do you want the light left on?"

Jane looked unbothered, so Maura switched it off and settled onto her pillow. Her hand snaked out and found Jane's, their fingers twining together. Maura smiled at the familiar comforting sensation and drifted off into sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi All! Everyone seems to be eager for answers about what's going on, I hope you like the clues that are slowly coming to you! It wouldn't be any fun if I just told you!

Thanks for your reviews, follows and favourites, it is very motivating to know that what we've come up with is entertaining you guys!

Thanks as ever to JaneyGWF, you are still awesome and extra bonus points for your creativity!

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Maura stirred slowly, not wanting to leave the first good night of sleep she'd had in years. She slowly stretched, her arm instinctively reaching across the bed before she realised what she was doing. As her brain caught up she realised Jane's hand had left hers and the other side of the bed was cold.

She jerked upright, suddenly panicked that Jane might be gone. That maybe she wasn't ever here at all. Movement caught her eye and she realised Jane was standing on the far side of the room, walking towards her with a worried look. Maura calmed immediately, her posture relaxing, which made Jane relax as well.

Maura cast an appraising look over her friend. From the temperature of her side of the bed she had probably been up for quite a while, but Jane didn't appear fatigued. She seemed alert, wary.

Maura decided to try to get Jane to talk. Last night she had still been in shock from Jane's sudden appearance, her thoughts too muddled to allow a plan to be formulated. Today she would try to reach her friend and find out what had happened.

She started small, trying to engage Jane in a friendly conversation. "Good morning Jane. Did you sleep well? You look well rested."

Jane cocked her head to the side, an agreeable look on her face, not quite a smile yet but definitely a less sombre look than any she had worn yesterday. Maura sighed, disheartened that Jane didn't seem to be any more vocal but not willing to give up just yet.

Maura got up, leading the way to the kitchen with Jane trailing behind. She noticed Jane glancing at all the entry points to the room, seemingly checking the security of the house, before she walked back and stood near Maura.

Maura poured two glasses of juice, sliding one towards Jane and sipping the other herself. She watched as Jane glanced towards the glass before returning to her watchful scrutiny of Maura.

Maura sighed, gesturing towards the glass. "Jane, please have some juice."

Jane frowned before moving towards the liquid cautiously, seeming to check for hidden traps or meanings before she finally touched the glass. She again watched Maura drinking carefully before copying the motion, her eyes widening slightly at the taste of the juice. She took another sip without prompting, seeming to enjoy it more. Glancing back at Maura she put the glass down almost guiltily before returning to her previous position, scanning the room once again before turning back to Maura.

Maura tapped her finger on the bench thoughtfully. "What are you looking for Jane? Are you worried about someone finding you? Are you hiding?"

Jane's face closed off slightly, the relaxed visage she had been presenting disappeared, replaced with the stoic façade she had worn last night. Her body stiffened, becoming more alert and poised. Maura knew she had come close to the truth; it was just a matter of narrowing down the specifics.

"Okay, is it an organisation that's looking for you?"

Jane seemed to realise that Maura could read her well enough to detect her responses and stopped trying to hide them. Her slight nod felt like a breakthrough, indicating she trusted Maura; she was starting to respond.

Maura couldn't help a slight smile. "Did you escape from them?"

Another nod, this one a bit more firm with a slight lift of the eyebrows. Maura read that Jane was proud to have escaped.

Maura considered where to go from here. If there was some organisation hunting Jane they had to be covert and highly illegal, which probably meant she couldn't tell anyone she had seen Jane for fear of alerting them to her location.

"Are they a government group?"

Jane looked unsure. Maura realised it might have been hard to tell; depending on the circumstances of her captivity she might not know who had taken her, or if she did she may have been lied to.

Maura decided to steer away from the difficult questions for a while. "Are you hungry? I'm going to make some pancakes."

Jane's face lightened; she clearly remembered pancakes. Maura smiled as she moved towards the cupboard to get the ingredients.

Jane's memory gaps seemed hard to place. She didn't remember basic things like how to use cutlery or drink from a glass or even sit down, but she remembered pancakes and she had somehow understood that the bottle of wine on the floor had meant that Maura was drinking to excess. She also remembered Maura, noticing things like her changed nightly routine. It was a puzzle, but it was one Maura was determined to solve so she could work out how to help Jane.

Jane drifted closer as the smell of pancakes cooking permeated the room, the wistful expression on her face almost getting a laugh out of Maura. She had relaxed a lot since she had started responding to Maura's questions, her posture no longer ramrod straight and tense. She even clumsily perched on a kitchen stool when prompted by Maura, waiting patiently while Maura set up a plate and cutlery for her to eat at the bench.

Her eyes were eager as Maura pulled the first pancakes from the pan, watching intently as Maura drizzled toppings over them before placing them in front of Jane with a flourish. Jane looked almost joyful as she looked at them, before glancing at the cutlery and looking back at Maura with a sad expression. Maura followed her gaze before realising she was unsure about how to eat them since the cutlery was different to the ones they had used for the salad the night before.

Maura quickly plated up her own breakfast before sitting next to Jane. She showed her how to hold the knife and fork, before demonstrating how to cut the pancakes and take a bite. Jane looked excited to be understood and eagerly mimicked the motions, her face ecstatic as she took her first bite.

Maura was thrilled to see the first genuine smile cross Jane's face, a mixture of pleasure at the taste and relief at their fledgling communication. Jane's face conveyed how grateful she was in that moment and Maura felt like they were back where they belonged, just two friends enjoying a late breakfast on a lazy Saturday.

She knew it couldn't last though. After she finished cleaning up the kitchen she turned to find Jane looking at her expectantly.

Maura realised what Jane's manner indicated. "Are you waiting for me to give you instructions?"

Jane nodded, cocking her head to the side to wait for the expected direction.

Maura sighed, Jane's behaviour making a sad sort of sense. "Jane, you don't need me or anyone to tell you what to do. You're a strong woman with a mind of her own. You're not a servant, or a soldier, or whatever someone seems to have convinced you. Do you understand?"

Jane looked very confused and agitated. The concept of free will seemed foreign, her lip curling in distaste as she contemplated Maura's words.

Maura realised they were on sensitive ground and quickly changed topic. "Okay, how about you let me examine you. Work out what your physical condition is. How does that sound?"

Jane's face relaxed out of its hostile discomfort, settling on an obedient emotionless mask. Maura realised she had taken a step back, retreating from the easy atmosphere that had developed over breakfast. She suppressed a sigh as she headed to the couch, waiting for Jane to follow before getting her to sit down.

Maura grabbed a notepad out of her work bag and started her examination of Jane. She had noticed all of her scars while Jane was in the bath last night, but she now took the time to examine them closely and take notes. Jane sat passively during the examination, not reacting to any of the poking and prodding. Even when Maura pressed firmly on some of the more prominent bruises that were readily apparent Jane didn't flinch, continuing to stare into space. It seemed like Jane was accustomed to being examined and zoned out, there was an air of long-suffering routine to her manner.

Maura was appalled to see the damage that had been inflicted on her friend's body. Some of the marks were clearly the result of life-threatening injuries. A large scar on her chest looked to be the result of being impaled on an object approximately an inch in diameter and round in shape. An exit scar was apparent on her back, showing that the object had most likely compromised her lung and should have impacted her spine. There were several surgical marks near the location of the vertebra that should have been compromised, which could explain how Jane could still move.

The scar across her face looked to be the result of a sharp implement. Maura could see stitch marks from haphazard attempts to seal the wound. The treatment was rudimentary, leaving the very prominent scar across Jane's face. If she had received proper care it was likely that the scar would be greatly reduced, but it appeared that whoever had imprisoned Jane hadn't cared for aesthetics. The scar finished near the site of several surgical marks near her temple. Maura had no knowledge of procedures that would use that location as an access point, so was clueless about what had been done to Jane in that instance.

There were multiple lesser injury sites all over her body, indicating several burns, stab wounds, bone breaks and other abrasions. Some were treated; others seemed to have been left to heal unattended.

The multiple surgeries that were evident all over Jane's body left Maura uncertain of Jane's surgeon's intent. Some, like the marks around Jane's spine and chest, were obviously treatments for the injuries at those sites. Others seemed to be either exploratory or for an unknown purpose. Maura couldn't imagine why a medical professional would cut into someone who wasn't ill, but that was obviously what had happened.

The most alarming discoveries were the mysterious implants under Jane's skin. Maura had noticed the odd protrusions last night, but with Jane lying down she could more accurately observe the shape against her skin and probe carefully with her fingers to try to determine the purpose of the invasive objects.

There were augmentations to Jane's legs, most obviously prominent at her hips. It seemed from the cuts, coupled with the shape of the implants, that all the bones in her legs had been exposed and covered with some kind of plating. Her knees were solid, as if the joints had been replaced. Her feet had also been cut open, with so many badly healed marks that Maura couldn't make out what had been done.

Jane's abdomen had clearly been opened multiple times. It was impossible to tell if any organs had been removed, but Maura could feel something hard near the surface below her navel. The obstruction made it difficult to feel any other organs, but there didn't seem to be any other new additions.

Jane's ribs and chest seemed untouched apart from the injuries. Her shoulders had been altered however; there were cuts similar to the ones on Jane's legs where plating had been inserted, ranging from her neck down to her hands. The familiar scars on Jane's hands were still present, but they had been joined with several other more intrusive looking marks.

Finally, Jane's spine, neck and head seemed to have been augmented with the same plating. Maura could see that her head had been operated on several times at various intervals, with some of the scars looking old and healed whereas some were new and fresh, not more than 6 months old.

It was apparent that Jane had been operated on regularly for the entire period she had been missing. Maura was reasonably sure that one of the surgeries had removed Jane's ability to feel pain, as she had tried to trigger involuntary pain reactions with several times with no success, although it upset her to cause Jane any further discomfort. It would explain the bruising on Jane's arms; people without feeling in their limbs often banged them without realising. Maura didn't think Jane was completely without sensation, mostly due to the memory of Jane's gentle touch on her bruised face, but she clearly had lost her normal pain response.

When Maura finished her examination she touched Jane's arm to bring her back to a sitting position. Jane's eyes immediately focussed on Maura's face, her expression turning alarmed and questioning as her hand reached for her eye. Maura felt curious fingers brushing over wet cheeks before realising she had been silently crying for almost the entire examination.

Maura took a shuddering breath, only then realising how upset she was. "Oh, I'm sorry Jane. I'm not hurt, I just….I guess I am just realising how much you must have been hurt while you were gone. I'm sorry I couldn't stop this from happening, or be there for you, or help you…."

Jane's expression softened, her hand grabbing Maura's and bringing it close to her chest before bringing it to her temple. Maura was confused and watched Jane repeat the motion a few times before she understood.

"Oh, do you mean you felt like I was with you, you remembered me?"

Jane nodded with a faint smile. Maura returned it shakily, her other hand snaking around Jane's shoulders to pull her close. Maura felt the hardness of Jane's shoulders now that she realised what had been done, but she still drew comfort from the knowledge that Jane hadn't ever forgotten her.

Fresh tears fell as Maura considered Jane's behaviour in light of her discoveries. "I'm just so sorry this happened to you."

Her hand rubbed Jane's arm, her need to convey comfort overwhelming the veneer of control she had put over her emotions. "You know, after you disappeared I used to imagine you were still out there somewhere. I'd open my front door and you'd be there, smiling at me and apologising for keeping me waiting. And I wouldn't mind, I wouldn't care how long it'd been, or how sad I'd been, I'd just smile back and we'd go get a coffee and we'd talk and it would all be okay. I never imagined you being hurt, or needing my help. I looked for you for a long time, but I think I never really thought that I'd see you again. I gave up hope, and I'm sorry for that. I should have known somehow, I should have…."

Jane's hand came up to still Maura's lips mid-sentence. Her finger stayed on Maura's mouth, her eyes encouraging Maura to stop and relax. The hand gradually moved to her cheek, a calming thumb brushing lightly over the wet cheek as Maura's head was carefully guided down to lie on Jane's shoulder. Maura sobbed quietly, her bottled up feelings breaking free now that they were in the presence of the one person who could always deal with them and soothe them. Jane's hands continued to comfort, one holding her hand and the other gently circling over her shaking back and shoulders.

By the time Maura finished crying it was almost time for lunch. She left Jane in the kitchen while she went to wash her face and change, since she was still in her sleep wear. When she came out she saw Jane was looking curiously at something on a shelf.

As Maura joined her she realised it was a scrapbook that Angela had made for her. She had seen how depressed Maura was coming up to her last birthday, so decided to try to make her something to remind her of her brightest moments in an attempt to help her recover some joy. At the time, the book had only reminded Maura of how empty and pointless her life felt, but she appreciated the gesture and the attempt.

Jane was currently looking at a newspaper clipping of Maura accepting a commendation from the city. She looked up at Maura questioningly, holding out the book.

Maura sighed, moving to the couch. "It was about two years ago. We had another serial killer and we weren't getting anywhere with the investigation. The killer had a particular type; he liked to go after single women, taking them from their homes and transporting them to his farm before holding them for several days. He would rant at them for days, about his worthiness, about how they thought they were better than him, about his family situation, anything that crossed his mind really. If they argued with him they would be beaten. If they tried to agree and didn't say the exact right thing they would be beaten. By the time they eventually died of thirst they would be a mess. We would find them dumped somewhere in Boston a few days later, and another girl would be missing."

Maura took a deep breath before continuing. "I decided to do a press conference about the situation with Lieutenant Cavanaugh. During the conference I deliberately goaded him, drawing his attention. He came for me the next day."

Jane's brow drew together in consternation, a clear rebuke on her face. Maura smiled weakly before continuing. "I know, it was foolish and dangerous. I just wanted to help. I wasn't helping with the forensics; we had nothing. I had just had enough. Enough of the case and of everything else. He came for me, taking me prisoner just like the others. I was there for two days before I managed to goad him enough to cause him to punch me off the chair I was tied to and leave. Fortunately I managed to find a rusted nail to cut my restraints. I was able to overpower him when he came back; he had left a machete in the room with me."

Maura's voice caught and she was forced to swallow before continuing in a strained voice. "I found his phone and called Korsak. They traced the call and found me. He was pronounced at the scene; exsanguination from his…injuries."

Maura remembered vividly how much blood there had been. He had looked so surprised when she swung and struck him in the chest, like she had said something vaguely insulting rather than acting to end his life. His eyes hadn't left hers during the long minutes until he bled out. She hadn't been able to look away, needing to know that he was gone before she moved. When they had gotten her to the hospital they had thought her injuries were much worse that they were before they realised she was just coated in her assailant's blood.

Maura shuddered at the memory before she cleared her throat again. "I don't remember much about the aftermath. I was in shock and then on strong pain medication for weeks. At some point they told me I was to be given this commendation."

She passed her hand over the clipping, remembering the ceremony clearly. "I was just constantly flashing back to your award ceremony. I remember how much you hated it. You didn't want anyone to think of you as a hero. I didn't really understand until I was on that same stage, receiving a medal that I thought had more business choking me than commending me. I didn't understand how I could be congratulated for murdering someone, even if it was someone as damaged and dangerous as him."

Jane stared at the clipping with an outraged look on her face. Her gaze flicked up to meet Maura's, softening into a sympathetic almost smile. Her hand found Maura's and squeezed. Her other hand reached out to touch Maura's heart, then clenched into a fist, then made a flicking motion as if shaking off unwanted liquid. Jane's eyes furrowed, waiting to see if Maura understood.

She did. Maura smiled and squeezed Jane's hand back. "Yes, I got past it. I went to therapy. I talked about it. It took months, almost six, but I eventually went back to work. Your mother visited almost every day, making sure I was eating and looking after myself. Korsak kept me up to date on all the news from work, reassuring me that there was a place for me as soon as I was ready. Susie came and visited every Friday. I think she was trying to recreate our movie nights so I would feel like you were still looking out for me."

Jane almost smiled again, moving her free hand between their hearts with a questioning look.

Maura smiled. "Yes, I felt like you were still with me. I didn't think I could get through it without you there, but the memory of how you'd helped me in the past got me there eventually."

Jane did smile finally, looking pleased to have helped somehow.

Maura's face fell as she continued. "I think that was when I really gave up on seeing you again. I was just so distraught, in so much pain. I knew that if there was any possible way of coming back to me you would have done it; you'd never let me go through that alone if you could help it. When you didn't magically appear I realised you weren't coming back. It took almost six months, but I eventually put myself back together and tried to move on. Not to forget you, but to try to work out how to live with myself knowing you were really gone."

Jane looked pained to hear all that Maura had been through without her. She looked back at the book before closing it, apparently done with reminiscing and catching up for now.

Maura internally pulled herself up, realising how much she had just blurted out. "Oh, Jane, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't be burdening you with any of this rubbish! You've been through enough, I didn't mean to…."

Again Jane shushed her with a finger to the lips, indicating a give and take motion between them with both hands. Maura smiled thankfully, realising that she couldn't help spilling her feelings to Jane, it was automatic no matter how much time had passed.

She put on a more upbeat tone. "Okay, but if we're sharing you have to share too. What do you want to do with the rest of the day?"

Jane just cocked her head to the side again. Maura realised this was her 'awaiting instructions' face and sighed. "Jane can you really not speak? It would make it so much easier to understand what you need….Can you try? For me? Please?"

Maura could see that Jane understood what she was asking. Her expression turned fearful, her hands trembling slightly as she balled them into fists. As Maura gasped and moved to touch her, Jane recoiled violently, throwing herself into the nearest wall and curling into a defensive ball. Maura instinctively went to follow her before realising she might make the impression of impending pain worse.

Backing up with her hands raised, Maura spoke as softly as possible, her voice shaking. "I'm sorry Jane, I'm sorry. You don't have to speak. I won't hurt you. Nobody will hurt you. I won't mention it again, I'm sorry. Please Jane, it's okay, everything's okay."

Jane slowly uncurled enough to watch Maura back against the wall, her hands still held out empty. It took several minutes of staring and gentle reassurances before Jane finally relaxed and stood up, her eyes still full of fear.

Maura couldn't decide whether it would be wise to try to approach Jane yet. Her reaction showed absolute terror, but Maura wasn't sure what she had done to trigger that response. It would take more data to determine the cause, but first Maura needed to calm Jane down. Observing how wary Jane was she decided it was too soon to physically approach her.

Taking a few deep breaths she started speaking as calmly as possible. "Jane, do you remember when we used to go for a run in the early mornings before work? We would meet up here and pick a direction and just run until we were tired, then we'd turn around and come back. Even when it was cold outside and we could see our breath and the sun wasn't up yet we'd still go for our run."

Jane was relaxing slightly, but she hadn't moved yet. Maura kept going, keeping still to try not to spook her. "Whenever it was cold, your hands used to hurt. And you wouldn't tell me, because you're stubborn, and you didn't want me to know you were in pain. But I eventually figured it out, and since I can be stubborn too I forced you to let me help. We'd run for twenty minutes and then I'd make you stop so I could massage your scars, and they wouldn't hurt as much. Do you remember that, Jane? Then we'd keep going and we'd finish our run and we'd start our day."

Jane looked at her hands, rubbing curious fingers over the still present reminders of her old life. She looked back at Maura, confusion obvious on her face. She seemed to be trying to decide whether Maura wanted to punish her or help her.

Maura decided to push on, still not moving but making her voice firmer. "I still want to help you Jane. I want to try to ease any pain you're in. I would never cause you any pain if I could avoid it. You are safe with me, I promise."

Jane looked searchingly at Maura before apparently making her decision. Her gait was cautious and slow as she inched across the room, one hesitant step at a time. Maura didn't hurry her, patiently waiting for Jane to be comfortable. Finally Jane stopped just out of reach.

They stared at each other, Maura trying to convey comfort and trust with her body language, Jane clearly transmitting her still present fear. Maura slowly, carefully, reached out a hand to Jane. "It's okay, you can trust me. I won't hurt you, I could never hurt you."

Jane looked at the offered hand as if searching for traps or weapons. She looked back into Maura's eyes searchingly.

Finally she moved, extending her hand and dropping it cautiously into Maura's. Maura smiled thankfully at the gesture before moving her other hand and placing it on top of Jane's. She gently started to massage the scarred hand, the motion familiar but alien as she felt foreign objects moving under the skin. She forced herself not to react, maintaining a constant reassuring movement.

Jane watched the healing hands working over her pale skin in fascination; the fear fading away and being replaced with wonder. She looked back at Maura, reaching out a hand to touch her face, almost as if she was convincing herself that Maura was real. When her fingers met solid flesh and tangled in blonde hair Jane smiled faintly, a relieved expression filling her face and relaxing her body.

After an indeterminate amount of time Maura finally let go of Jane's hand when she thought Jane was back to feeling safe. Remembering that it must be past lunchtime by now, Maura moved into the kitchen and started preparing their meal. She remained silent, not willing to push Jane by asking her what she wanted to eat. Jane remained standing where she had been left, watching Maura's movements with a curious and contented gaze.

The meal passed in silence, with Maura trying not to stare at Jane despite the fact that Jane did little else but stare at her. It was like she had completely lost all her social filters, not caring about nudity, staring, personal space or anything else that she used to navigate with ease before she had disappeared. It was disconcerting for Maura to be the one in this pair with a better grasp of social cues and behaviour; Jane had always been her guide through those treacherous waters.

As they finished eating, the silence continued unabated. Maura cleaned up the dishes and then moved to the couch. Jane trailed after her quietly, sitting down in her spot without instruction. Maura gave up trying to avoid staring and started scrutinising her friend's every expression, trying to work this out. Trying to work her out.

She decided to go back and catalogue everything she knew in order to construct a logical plan. Maura was fairly sure that Jane had followed her home from the park. From the amount of dirt on her it was likely that she had been living in the park, or one like it, for between a few weeks and a couple of months. She didn't appear to be undernourished, so it was possible that someone may have looked after her, since she didn't appear capable of feeding herself without instruction.

Since she had found Maura and allowed herself to be pulled into the house, Jane had hardly shown any independent action. The only times her own self had shown through was when Maura had been showing her own pain, either with tears or tiredness or the physical evidence such as the empty wine bottle. Whenever Maura had been calm, Jane had been mostly passive, waiting for instructions and standing obediently.

Maura realised that she needed help. It would be telling to see how Jane reacted to another person, whether her responses were specific to Maura or a general response to anyone. Since getting Jane to speak was clearly off the table, observing her behaviour in reaction to different stimuli was the only course of action left open to Maura.

Her decision made, Maura motioned for Jane to stay put before retrieving her phone from the bedroom. She turned it on to be greeted by several missed calls from Susie. She opened a text message, frowning in confusion.

_Where are you? There are two new cases that have been brought in and you need to have the quarterly budget review in by the end of the day. I covered and said you were working from home, but you need to get in here as soon as possible!_

Maura realised in shock that it was Friday, not Saturday as she'd somehow assumed. She was supposed to be at work. The thought hadn't even crossed her mind; she was so focussed on Jane. It was telling that Susie didn't sound worried, she had just covered for her until she showed up. Maura glanced at Jane, knowing she wouldn't approve of how much her professional pride had slipped over the past four years. The time where Dr Isles was prompt, thorough and reliable was long past.

Maura took a breath, considering her options before speaking. "Jane, I need to see to some work. I want to ask Susie to come here. Is that okay?"

Jane seemed to think it over before nodding, her expression worried but not scared. Maura nodded back before moving to her office to call Susie.

The phone rang only once before a frantic Senior Criminalist picked up. "Maura, where have you been? Lieutenant Cavanaugh is furious, Detective Rizzoli is waiting on autopsy reports before he can start investigating, and the governor's office has been calling about the quarterly reports! Are you coming in?"

Maura sighed, remembering all the work she was supposed to be doing today that she had put off yesterday since she was hung over. "I'm sorry, Susie. Something has come up; you'll understand when you get here. I need you to come now."

Maura had rarely heard Susie yell, and never quite as high pitched as this. "What? You want me to leave now? I've been covering for you all day Maura! You need to come in; you might get fired this time! You are really out of chances!"

Maura knew she didn't care. "I'll take that chance Susie. I really need you to come to my house as soon as you can. Send me the budget reports; I'll call in a replacement ME for the cases."

Susie was silent for several long seconds. They had done this dance before, with Maura failing to appear at work and Susie using every excuse in the book to deter the wrath of all those who relied on her. The excuses had run out long ago, and everyone was at the end of their tolerance for Maura's ongoing faults.

Susie was still loyal to her friend, however. "I'll be there as soon as I can. I'll just sort out a few things to get everyone moving. Maybe a couple of hours?"

Maura closed her eyes in relief. "Thanks Susie. I'll see you then."

She hung up and looked at the phone guiltily. Susie had endured an awful lot by sticking by her over the last few years. They had moved past the distant relationship of colleagues and into a real friendship after her second breakdown, but Susie could never replace Jane in her heart and she knew it. However there was nobody else that Maura trusted enough for this, and she hoped that Susie could help her figure out how to help Jane.

She called the replacement ME before she grabbed her tablet and headed back out to Jane, who looked up expectantly, her head cocked in the waiting pose.

Maura sighed again, not knowing how to get Jane to stop being so passive. "Susie will be here in a few hours. Do you remember Susie?"

Jane nodded slightly, not looking convinced. Maura frowned, not quite knowing what to do with that answer. "Okay, well I need to do some work for a while. You are welcome to watch some television, or read. What would you like to do?"

Jane made a show of settling into the couch and placing her hands in her lap, staring at Maura unflinchingly. Maura rolled her eyes, not having the patience to try to get anything more out of her right now.

"Okay, you sit there and watch me, that's fine. Let me know if you need something."

Maura quickly received the email from Susie and started work on her reports. Nothing much had happened in her department this quarter so the reports were relatively quick to finish, she just hadn't had the motivation to attend to them before now.

She occasionally glanced at Jane, who had barely moved. Her constant gaze was still disconcerting, but it was starting to unsettle Maura less as the day wore on.

Maura had just finished the reports and emailed them when a knock sounded at the front door.


	4. Chapter 4

Hi All! Thanks to you all for your continuing support! I'm amazed at how much interest people have shown in this story, I'll try to keep doing good things with it!

Thanks as always to my faithful beta JaneyGWF, still awesome! There are a few moments in this one that are all her doing, so please thank her by checking out her stories if you haven't already dropped by!

* * *

Jane instantly jumped up, her posture defensive and alert as she stepped close to Maura.

Maura took a breath to calm her racing heart before putting a restraining hand on Jane's arm. "It's only Susie; remember I told you she was coming? It's okay, just wait here for a moment."

Jane scrutinised Maura's expression before backing off enough to allow Maura to move to the door.

Maura paused at the door, taking a calming breath before opening the door with a worried expression. An agitated Susie Chang stood on her doorstep holding an armful of files and didn't wait to be invited in, talking frantically as she moved. Maura tried to get a word in but Susie didn't notice.

"Maura! What happened to you today? Did you get the reports finished? Dr Franklin arrived, he seemed particularly grumpy today. He's started the autopsies; Detective Rizzoli is there with him. I brought the preliminary findings; I figured you might want to get up to date in case…"

Susie finally glanced up and realised they weren't alone. Jane was standing in the middle of the room, scrutinising the frazzled scientist warily. She appeared to find nothing out of place, her posture relaxing as Susie stopped talking.

Maura moved next to Susie, taking in her bewildered expression and realising she hadn't been able to recognise Jane as she had. Glancing at Jane she understood; the scars, the bald head, the hardened expression. Superficially there was very little left that resembled the loud, vibrant detective Susie remembered.

Maura gently put a hand on Susie's arm, feeling her jump slightly. "Susie, this is what happened today. It's Jane. She's alive, she's here. She isn't quite herself at the moment, but it's her. Susie?"

Susie's mouth had fallen open in shock, her eyes wide. The stack of folders crashed loudly to the floor, startling all three of them. Susie glanced down at them before returning her eyes to Jane, tears beginning to form. Her voice was shaky and high. "Detective Rizzoli?"

Jane didn't react to the mention of her title, instead returning to her usual posture and fixing her gaze back on Maura with a question in her eyes. After a few moments her head dropped into its 'waiting for instructions' position.

Maura was about to move when a suddenly sobbing Susie threw herself at Jane. Jane's eyes widened as flailing arms drew her down into a bone-crushing hug, the stoic woman unresponsive as Susie wailed into her chest. Maura watched as Jane stood completely unaffected in Susie's hug, her eyes never budging from Maura.

After a few moments Susie composed herself enough to pull away, her eyes immediately finding Maura. "How? Where? You were right, she was alive!"

Maura found herself yanked into a hug, her face finally falling into a smile as she was infected with Susie's enthusiasm and happiness. Jane looked on in confusion as the pair burst into nervous laughter, Susie pulling away suddenly to look at Jane again, this time studying her appearance carefully.

Maura took another calming breath to compose herself before starting to explain. She couldn't look away from Jane as she spoke; retelling the story bringing up all her feelings of awe and relief that Jane had found her. Susie looked between the pair with growing confusion, Jane's silence becoming more noticeable as the minutes passed.

Maura glanced at her as she finished explaining and saw the look Susie was giving Jane. She jumped in before she could ask and possibly trigger Jane's fear response again. "We've been communicating non-verbally Susie. It's taken some figuring out but we're managing."

Susie took the hint, moving to her next question. "So, what do we do now? If there's someone looking for her we can't tell anyone she's alive. Does anyone else know?"

Maura shook her head. "No, you're the first. I want to run some tests in the lab, and I need your help to make sure nobody questions where the samples have come from. They can't be tied to any open cases. We need to make sure nobody else sees the results."

Susie nodded thoughtfully. "I can move some files around, create some dummy records. I can say I'm doing a test run for a new filing system if anyone notices the extra files so it won't be a problem. Do you want to do the tests yourself?"

Maura considered. "I do, but I don't want to leave Jane alone. I'll take the samples now; can you run them in and do the tests? Start them tonight if you can, but don't leave anything unattended. Bring everything back here when you're done."

Susie returned her gaze to Jane, who hadn't shifted during the entire exchange. Maura realised Susie was starting to get unsettled by Jane's manner, which was completely understandable. Maura had been so happy to find Jane again that she had just accepted whatever behaviour she could get, but Susie was reacting to the stark difference between the woman she'd known and the stranger with them now.

Maura moved over to Jane. "Please go sit on the couch; we want to take some samples. Is that okay Jane?"

A nod was the response, Jane moving and sitting as instructed. Susie glanced between them curiously, not understanding Jane's mental state at all despite Maura doing her best to explain. Maura left Susie waiting with Jane while she retrieved the necessary equipment to take the samples she wanted, wanting to see how Jane might react. When she returned neither of them had moved; Susie was staring openly at Jane who was still staring at Maura.

When Maura returned and started to set out the equipment, Susie finally spoke. "Maura, do you mind if I try to take the samples?"

Maura was surprised at the request but couldn't see any reason to object. "Sure Susie. Would you care for some tea?"

Susie nodded, moving to continue setting up the gear. When Maura was in the kitchen she spoke to Jane. "Detective Rizzoli, I'm going to start by taking some blood. Is that okay with you? Detective Rizzoli? Jane?"

Jane didn't appear to have heard Susie, her head twisted around to follow Maura with her gaze again. Susie touched her arm gently to get her attention to no effect before moving to firmly grasp her shoulder to move her around. Jane resisted before turning back to Susie, her expression confused as she looked at Susie.

Susie had always been intimidated by Jane, and she still was, but she tried to be assertive. "Jane, I need to take some blood. Please put your arm out for me? Like this? Jane, can you hear me?"

Jane continued to look at Susie blankly, showing no sign of comprehension. Maura finished making the tea and brought it over, observing the frustration on Susie's face. "What's the matter?"

Jane's head spun around to find Maura again, her features settling into a more content watchful state. Susie looked between them, still not quite understanding but realising that Jane was fixated on Maura. "Can you try asking her to cooperate? She doesn't seem to hear me, or understand me."

Maura was surprised but obligingly tried. "Jane, please put your arm out for Susie, we're going to take a blood sample if that's okay with you."

Jane immediately mimicked the demonstrated position with her arm held out obligingly. Susie's eyes widened in surprise but she stepped in to take the sample, not wanting to delay in case Jane changed her mind. Jane didn't flinch when the needle pierced her skin, as Maura had expected from her observation of Jane's lack of pain response.

Susie finished collecting the samples and arranged them all carefully into a carry bag. She glanced back at Jane, who hadn't reacted during any of the tests except to respond to Maura's requests. Frowning in worry she caught Maura's eye and nodded towards the door.

Maura took the hint. "Jane, please stay here while I see Susie out."

A curt nod was her only answer. Maura joined Susie at the front door, knowing her friend would have some interesting observations of Jane's behaviour.

Susie didn't disappoint. "Maura, she's not acting like herself at all! Are you really sure that's Detective Rizzoli?"

Maura was surprised at the question, although after a moment of consideration she realised she shouldn't be. "Yes, I'm sure Susie. I know she hasn't said anything, but she has done things that tell me the old Jane is in there somewhere. I know it's Jane."

Susie looked back at the silent woman on the couch. "Okay. Well if that is Detective Rizzoli she obviously has been subjected to some radical and inhumane procedures. There's no telling what sort of damage has been done to her psyche. She could be dangerous, Maura. She might not even realise it, but she could hurt you. I don't think you should be here alone with her until we know what happened to her."

Maura followed Susie's gaze. She remembered the protective way that Jane had stepped between her and the door when Susie arrived. She remembered the gentle way Jane had asked about her bruised face. She remembered the insistent way Jane had made her go to bed and rest.

Maura turned back to Susie, her mind made up. "No, I don't think she could hurt me. I know she's different, but she still cares about me."

Susie's brow furrowed in worry. "I'm not just worried about that. She seems really fixated on you. It's like after she decided I wasn't a threat she didn't even acknowledge I was here, she just stared at you. And she seems to obey anything you ask like an order, without any hesitation."

Maura frowned as well. "You're right. She's almost like a soldier obeying commands. She was doing it before you got here too."

Maura considered their options before sighing. "I don't see any alternative until we have more information. We need the results from the samples to start figuring out what's been done to her."

Susie nodded her assent, moving to leave. "I'll call when I'm on my way back. I don't want to alarm her by showing up unannounced."

Maura smiled and opened the door. Susie paused in the threshold. "It's so great that she's alive Maura. You were right to keep looking. You never gave up hope, did you?"

Maura sighed sadly. "I'm not sure Susie. I don't think I would have ever lost all hope, but….Well it doesn't matter now. She's back, and we need to help her."

Susie smiled before departing, glancing around the darkening street cautiously. Maura watched her go before closing the door, ensuring the locks were secure. She took a moment to think about her options for the rest of the day before turning back to Jane.

Her gaze was met with attentive eyes, Jane's head cocked waiting for orders.

Maura frowned at the implications.

She realised it was time to interject some scientific methodology into their interactions. She had been reacting to Jane emotionally, as a friend, but what Jane needed right now was help. Maura needed to know more about Jane's current mental state if she was going to be of any use to her.

Maura walked back to the couch and sat next to Jane, contemplating her options while returning Jane's constant gaze. She let her mind traverse the events of the last 24 hours, itemising all the instances of Jane behaving anything like her old self.

Her sense of self emerging seemed tied to experiencing familiar situations from her old life. Jane had reacted differently to the pancakes this morning than she had to the salads, becoming excited at the prospect of the treat, as opposed to complacent about unpalatable food.

She had also reacted strongly to Maura being hurt or upset. She had asked in her own silent way what had hurt her, she had shown concern when Maura became fatigued. She had shown compassion. She cared. It was just a matter of figuring out why that part of Jane kept being suppressed by the passive persona that waited for instructions like some kind of automaton.

Maura decided to try testing the first part of her theory by attempting to trigger Jane's reactions with some more familiar items. She thought over her options, knowing she had kept a lot of Jane's possessions after her disappearance. Suddenly she realised she had the perfect thing.

Maura indicated that Jane should follow her and stood, moving to the kitchen. Again she would be embarrassed to admit to anyone else why she had this particular item in her fridge, but when Jane's eyes widened and a tentative smile appeared on her face, Maura knew the indignation would have been worth it.

"Jane? You remember this? You remember why I keep this here?"

Jane glanced back at Maura, her face softening. A scarred hand pointed to her chest.

Maura smiled. "Yes, that's right. I keep these for you. For when you come and visit. Here, take it."

Jane's gaze flitted between the cold beer and Maura, uncertainty being slowly replaced by excitement. She slowly reached for the bottle, Maura holding it steadily and patiently. Jane grasped the cool surface, her face showing wonder at the familiar label.

After a long moment Jane's expression started to drop into agitation. She tilted the bottle, as if trying to figure out what to do next. Maura realised the problem, having seen Jane's similar reaction to cutlery. She moved to the fridge and pulled out another beer, making sure Jane was watching her before she twisted off the cap and took a swig of the amber liquid.

She coughed lightly, having not tasted beer in more than four years. She had never felt right drinking it without Jane, and had thrown out several unopened batches over the years as they expired. She had always replaced them however, unable to imagine not having a cold beer ready for Jane.

Jane's face lightened in amusement at Maura's reaction to the beer. Maura smiled back, indicating that Jane should open hers and try it.

Maura was thrilled. Her hypothesis seemed correct. If she could continue to introduce elements of Jane's old life into her environment she might be able to keep Jane more present, and hopefully prevent that passive personality from re-emerging. She would need to start buying Jane's favourite foods, discuss familiar topics, recall familiar jokes, possibly tell her family so they could come and see her.

Jane looked back at the bottle and brought her other hand up to grasp the cap. She twisted with too much force and at the wrong angle, the entire bottle neck shattering under her grip and spraying crimson droplets across the pristine kitchen bench.

Maura gasped in shock, slamming her bottle down on the bench and grabbing a nearby towel. Jane looked distraught, her eyes locking with Maura's, clearly full of fear. Her body had gone rigid, holding her hands steady even as blood continued to leak out of the cuts on her fingers.

Maura took a breath and moved slowly, realising that Jane looked close to another panic attack. "Jane, it's okay. You didn't do anything wrong. It was an accident. You aren't going to be punished. Do you understand?"

Jane didn't relax, but she didn't panic either. "Jane, I'm going to take the bottle. It's okay, you can give it to me."

Jane glanced down at Maura's hand gripping the bottle. She released the glass but didn't move her hands, forcing Maura to manoeuvre the sharp edges carefully around long fingers before placing the bottle on the bench.

"Okay, now please don't move Jane. I need to clean out the glass, then I need to clean up the shards on the floor. If you move you'll cut your feet. Can you stay still for me?"

Jane seemed to be calming slightly. She nodded almost imperceptibly. Maura let out a small breath, moving closer to Jane so she could see her hands. There were two large shards stuck in her fingers, the deep slices both bleeding sluggishly around the glass. Maura frowned at the speed of the blood loss; the rate may indicate an anomaly in her blood chemistry. Resolving to ask Susie later, she carefully wrapped the towel around the wounds, moving Jane's other hand to apply pressure.

Maura looked back at Jane. "Okay, now please stand still, I'll be back in a moment."

Maura carefully stepped around the glass and spilled beer on the floor, hurrying to grab a mop and her medical kit. She quickly mopped a clear path out of the kitchen before leading Jane to the couch. Jane had regressed back into her passive state, the spark of personality she had shown at the sight of the beer gone.

Maura pulled out tweezers, gauze and disinfectant and laid them out ready. With steady hands she carefully unwrapped the towel, feeling several pieces of glass sitting in the folds that she cautiously kept contained. Placing the stained cloth aside she picked up the tweezers, gently holding Jane's hands and looking for the shards she had noted earlier.

She couldn't see any glass.

She also couldn't see any cuts.

Jane's hands had somehow healed completely.


	5. Chapter 5

Hi all!

Apologies for the long wait between chapters, I caught a bit of a cold during the week and I didn't feel like a brain filled with cotton balls was particularly conducive to writing. Hope it was worth the wait!

Thanks as always to JaneyGWF for the assistance, proofreading and correcting my poor choices of imagery!

* * *

Maura blinked dumbly as she looked at Jane's hands. Apart from a few smears of drying blood they were unmarked, no sign of the deep cuts she had seen only minutes earlier. She put down the tweezers, turning Jane's hands over several times to ensure she hadn't simply been mistaken about the location of the injuries. She then carefully probed every inch of skin on Jane's hands with her own shaky fingers, again feeling the movement of the implants but not finding any evidence of fresh wounds.

Maura looked at Jane's face, her expression frozen between wonder, confusion and fear. Jane was frowning at her in concern, seeming to not understand Maura's reaction. Maura glanced back at Jane's hands again, still unable to believe what she'd seen.

Maura dropped Jane's hands, her gaze shifting to the bloodied towel. She opened it, finding the two shards of glass that she'd seen stuck in Jane's fingers. They were both rimmed with blood, the drying liquid dark and sticky. Clear evidence that Jane had been bleeding.

Maura glanced at her own hands. Maybe her mind had gotten confused and she had been the one injured.

There was no sign of injury there either. She flexed her hands, feeling no pull or twinge that might indicate a cut.

Maura's suddenly shallow breathing hitched when she felt a gentle hand touch her trembling ones. Her eyes shot up to meet Jane's. She found worried brown eyes as Jane leaned forward, clearly trying to offer Maura comfort despite not understanding the source of her panic.

Maura wasn't quite done freaking out yet. "Jane? What just happened?"

Jane's brow furrowed. Maura took a calming breath before continuing. "Your hand. There was glass in your hand and you were cut, but now you're completely healed. What happened? How did that happen?"

Jane looked at the glass shards on the table, her face clearing as she understood Maura's question. Before Maura could react Jane reached over and picked up one of the pieces, drawing the sharp edge across the back of her other hand. Maura gasped as blood bubbled out of the fresh slice, automatically reaching for the gauze still laid out on the table to stem the flow.

As she moved to cover the wound Jane gently but firmly grabbed her hand and stopped her. With an insistent look Jane drew Maura's attention back to the wound.

She watched in fascination as the wound slowly closed before her eyes. The tissue knitted itself back together, sealing the wound and stopping the blood flow within seconds. Within a minute the wound had completely healed without a trace.

Maura's mouth hung open in shock. This level of cellular regeneration was far beyond anything she'd ever seen or heard of. But she couldn't deny what she'd just witnessed.

Maura suddenly sprang off the couch and started pacing, her hands wringing together in agitation. Jane watched her movements with unease, clearly unsure whether she had done something wrong.

Maura's mind was churning. This shouldn't be possible. She had kept up to date on all the latest medical journals, and there were no procedures, treatments, medicines, drugs, herbal remedies, anything to explain this. It was possible to regenerate tissue in a laboratory setting, in a petri dish, but that process required protein baths, power sources, nanotechnology, monitoring, none of which were present in her living room. She had never come across any mention of a technology that would allow the process to occur unaided within an individual.

However…Maura's mind flashed to the implants under Jane's skin. The foreign objects she had felt in her abdomen, on her skeleton, in her head. She hadn't been able to determine their function; perhaps this was it. Self-healing, almost instantaneous, for….what?

A field operative?

No, it didn't make sense. A field operative for some secret organisation would need to be able to fit in with society, and Jane's physical appearance made her stand out. She couldn't function without anyone with her either, she required too much constant instruction.

A lab rat?

Again, this seemed implausible. Simple experimentation wouldn't lend itself to her healing ability being contained within her body. It would be more cost effective to leave whatever functions were controlled by her implants outside of her body, via some kind of machinery. The cost of miniaturising the technology, optimising it for implantation, ensuring the patient survived the procedure, planning to prevent rejection, ongoing maintenance of the implants and integrating the function of all the implants would make the entire process unsupportable in a testing setting. Also if they needed to test whether a new life-saving technology could work they could ask for volunteers, do it out in the open, not resort to kidnapping detectives. Whoever had kidnapped Jane definitely expected more out of her than a body to experiment on.

A soldier?

Maura looked back at Jane, suddenly feeling ill. Her earlier conversation with Susie had made her think of the behaviour of a soldier. The conditioning, the obedience, it made sense if someone was trying to create compliant troops who didn't ask questions. A person with Jane's current communication skills would be useless from an operational perspective in a social setting, but would be perfect in a warzone. She would obey and fight or die without any argument, and with this enhanced biology she would most likely come back to do it over and over again. The disgust Maura felt at this concept pooled in her stomach as if she'd swallowed several rare earth magnets that were tearing her insides apart.

Although she was only guessing, Maura felt an unsettling chill permeate her being at the thought of Jane being turned into a soldier, forced to act out orders from some shadowy organisation with unknown motives. It defied her ability to comprehend; how could any human being do this to another? And why Jane?

She felt her desire to protect and help Jane magnify exponentially. Whatever had happened over the last four years, Maura was here now and she was going to make sure nobody abused Jane again.

Maura took in Jane's expression. She was completely back to being Jane again, her face worried but still allowing Maura the space to think. The theory that Jane emerged under familiar conditions was looking more plausible by the minute, as all of Maura's dearest memories of Jane were of the times she had been comforted by her friend's reliable support, just as she was providing now. She never pressed her further than she needed to, she didn't force her to talk; she was just there for her.

Maura knew she needed to say something. "Jane it's okay, I'm okay. I was just surprised. Let me clean up your hands, and then I'll clean up the kitchen, and then I'll call Susie and see if she's found anything."

Maura remembered she hadn't finished her beer and retrieved it from the kitchen, carefully wiping Jane's hands clean before passing her the bottle. "Here Jane, why don't you have the rest of this. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Jane smiled as Maura handed her the open beer, sending Maura a thankful look before putting her mouth to the bottle and taking a sip. The smile widened as her eyes slipped closed in bliss. Maura couldn't help smiling as well.

As she moved around the kitchen cleaning and disposing of the destroyed bottle the smile quickly fell off her face. The implications of everything she's seen were beyond troubling. She knew she had been right not to tell anyone about Jane; the amount of resources that had to have been expended on Jane made her a valuable asset to someone, and there was no chance they wouldn't come looking for her.

So what was the next step? They needed to know who had done this so they could keep Jane safe, but unless Jane could tell them who had kidnapped her there was nothing to go on. If there had been any evidence Maura could find she would have discovered it years ago.

Maura still clearly remembered the weeks just after she had lost Jane. She had checked herself out of the hospital after only three days, against medical advice, to coordinate the search effort she had initiated. The pain in her leg became agonising after only hours of walking on it, but she ignored it, took some painkillers and kept on going. She sent investigators back into the collapsed building multiple times, using every forensic tool at her disposal to analyse the scene, desperately looking for any clue. They had found the place where Maura had been found, the puddle of Maura's dried blood an obvious marker. The piece of steel that had pierced her leg was gone, but the pieces of concrete that had blackened her face and arms were still present. They had dug through the remains of that wall painfully slowly, shoring up the integrity of the building to prevent further collapses. Maura was almost hysterical by the time the debris was cleared; she was terrified that they might be digging their way to Jane's crushed remains.

But they had found nothing. Only splatters of blood near where Maura had guessed Jane would have fallen. There was no body, there were no signs of an escape route. The investigators couldn't figure out where Jane had gone, and nobody was willing to speculate on whether she was alive or dead anywhere near the frantic medical examiner.

Maura had decided that Jane must be alive. Logically if she was dead she would still be there, so she would operate under the assumption that she was alive. She started organising search teams to find her. They checked homeless shelters, hospitals, parks, anywhere she might have gone. Her family checked her house several times a day, Angela kept watch at Maura's house, Frankie drove around all of Jane's favourite places constantly, all to no avail. Jane was gone.

After three weeks Cavanaugh stopped the official search. Although Jane had disappeared while on the job, the lack of evidence and progress meant he couldn't justify the strain on their resources any longer.

Maura instead used her own resources. She hired a team of private investigators, she contracted an engineering firm to analyse the incident, she even went to Rondo and organised a network of his contacts to keep an eye out for the missing detective. None of it gave her any news. She was still distraught, feeling like nobody else was looking. Feeling like nobody else cared.

Three months after Jane's disappearance she was put on forced leave. She had been spending so little time at work that the BPD needed to hire another ME to keep up, and her own injuries hadn't healed properly since she wasn't resting properly. Angela had been looking after her and trying to get her to slow down for months, but Maura had been ignoring her. In desperation Angela went to Cavanaugh, pleading with him to do something. His only option was to appeal to the governor to 'encourage' her to take some personal time.

Without the distraction of her job Maura had been able to arrange the investigations to run without her constant input. She was also able to stay off her still recovering leg, allowing it to heal. She would always have pain in it, since her constant use had reduced the efficiency of the scarring process and left permanent damage, but she knew that she couldn't have done anything differently. She needed to put her energy into finding Jane, and there was no way she could have rested knowing there was anything else she could be trying.

Angela still came by every chance she got, cooking meals for the overworked doctor and ensuring she rested as much as possible. She hadn't given up on Jane either, she just didn't have the same resources and connections as Maura to keep looking. Maura appreciated the support, although she became frustrated with Angela every time she insisted that another sweep of a park or another test result could be looked at later, after Maura had looked after herself.

Jane had always put Maura's wellbeing ahead of her own; Maura couldn't do any less in return now.

After a month Maura returned to work. She kept the search going as long as she could, before there were simply no new leads to investigate. She left no stone unturned, entertaining wild theories and assumptions only to find nothing. She kept the private investigators on her payroll, insisting they kept their lines of inquiry open, but the search was over. Unless something fell in their laps, Jane was gone.

Maura stopped her memories before they wandered too far. She knew that there was nothing more to find in any of the reports. She had gone over everything too thoroughly.

If they were going to get any leads on what had happened to Jane, it needed to come from her. She needed to remember.

It would be so much easier if she could talk.

Maura looked down at what she was doing. Sometime during her musing she had finished clearing the mess from the beer and had started cleaning the kitchen in earnest. She was currently scrubbing out the sink with great vigour. She hadn't even noticed switching tasks, she didn't really remember putting the glass in the bin or putting away the mop. Occurrences like this had become common place for her, with her mind wandering after Jane with no regard for what it was meant to be focussing on.

But now she was meant to be focussing on Jane, and on what to do next. Maura mentally shook herself out of her funk and returned to problem solving mode. She put away the cleaning supplies and moved back over to the couch. Jane was still carefully enjoying her beer, drinking it much more slowly than Maura had ever seen. Maura couldn't help but smile at the sight of Jane looking so content for just a moment.

Maura resolved to continue exposing Jane to familiar things, but she suspected that she wouldn't get a real breakthrough alone. She needed to bring in Jane's family.

Angela was out of the question at this point. She had reluctantly accepted that Jane was gone a year and a half after her disappearance, finally allowing the BPD to have a memorial service for her. It had almost broken the strong woman to lose one of her children, but she had managed to get through it and resume her life eventually.

Tommy was also not suitable. He was too emotional; it was likely his reaction might scare Jane or make her worse. Also he and Angela weren't well known for subtlety, and Maura needed to ensure Jane's safety by keeping her a secret.

Frankie was the only choice. He had proven in the past that he could keep his cool under pressure and he would agree to protect Jane by concealing her presence. He also had the closest connection to Jane, and had the best chance of reaching her in a positive way.

Her decision made, Maura grabbed her phone. She noticed that a significant amount of time had passed since Susie had left; it was now after eight. Frankie would most likely be either at the Dirty Robber or already home.

She sent a brief text to Frankie, asking him to come over tomorrow morning. She deliberately left out the details of what she wanted, not sure if any communication methods could be trusted to be secure. Although she didn't know if anyone was looking for Jane she didn't want to take any chances. After five minutes he sent back an affirmative reply. Maura smiled, knowing she would be happy to see him as well. The Rizzoli family had done their best to continue to look after her in Jane's absence, but she knew she made it difficult and was grateful that they kept trying.

Next she sent a text to Susie, asking how her night was going, again leaving no details. Susie apparently caught on to the sentiment, sending back a vague text about unfinished tests and a promise to finish them tomorrow. Maura sent back a thankful reply, asking her not to overdo it. She knew how much Susie still went above the call of duty to try to help her, and was careful not to abuse that aspect of her friend's work ethic. Susie sent back an assurance, saying she'd finish within the next hour and be back in the lab at seven.

Maura returned to Jane, noting she had finally finished the beer and was now scrutinising the bottle as if trying to determine its secrets. Jane heard Maura approach and looked up at her happily, her face light and optimistic.

Maura couldn't help smiling back. "I think we should have something to eat. Does pizza sound good?"

Jane enthusiastically smiled at the mention of pizza, her whole face lighting up. Maura couldn't help feeling encouraged; the passive Jane hadn't made an appearance for nearly an hour.

The pair passed the rest of the evening in comfortable silence, enjoying the pizza while watching a movie. Maura had loved the feeling of slipping back into their old routine, with Jane present and herself for the entire night.

Finally they made their way to bed, the sleeping arrangements identical to the previous night. Maura got Jane into the bed with slightly less awkwardness, but Jane still didn't look entirely sure or comfortable. Maura's hand quickly found Jane's again, needing to feel a physical anchor to her friend to assure her rapidly drifting mind that this day was real.

Jane was here.

Jane had some kind of accelerated healing ability.

Jane had been abused greatly, leaving her with horrendous physical, mental and emotional scars.

And someone was most likely still after her.


	6. Chapter 6

Hi all!

This could possibly be the last chapter for a while, I'll be going on to 60 hour work weeks starting this weekend, so apologies in advance if there's a bit of a long wait! I'll do my best to not leave you hanging too long! Please let me know what you think of the chapter, something you say may inspire me to write!

Thanks as always to my ever vigilant beta JaneyGWF! Please go check out her new one shot if you haven't already!

* * *

Maura awoke with a start, instantly realising there was a hand on her shoulder shaking her back to consciousness. Her eyes snapped open to find Jane's worried eyes inches from her face.

Maura realised her chest was heaving and her breath was burning her throat. She must have been screaming in her sleep again. This was another occurrence that had become commonplace after Jane's disappearance, but this was the first time anyone had been around to witness it.

Maura closed her eyes and focussed on her breathing for a moment before reaching out reassuringly for Jane's hand. "I'm sorry, I'm okay Jane. I was just having a nightmare."

When Maura opened her eyes it was to find a disbelieving look on Jane's face. Maura took another few calming breaths. "Really, I'm fine. I just….I'm fine."

Jane frowned, clearly not convinced. After another moment of searching Maura's expression Jane backed off, returning to the position against the wall that Maura had seen her take up the previous morning.

Maura flopped back down in bed, suddenly feeling how tense her body was in the wake of her nightmare. She had hoped that the dreams might fade now that Jane had returned, but apparently that wasn't to be the case. There were too many unanswered questions surrounding their current situation.

As Maura thought about looking at the time on her phone, a knock sounded at the front door. Jane immediately tensed, moving into a defensive position between Maura's bed and the door. Maura grabbed her phone hurriedly, realising with a jolt that it was after seven. Frankie must be here; he knew she usually got up early, even on weekends.

Maura quickly pulled on some clothes, muttering as many reassuring words as possible to Jane before instructing her to stay in the bedroom, despite the fact that she was battling within herself to remain calm. Jane seemed to be struggling to obey that command; her desire was clearly to stay with Maura and protect her. Maura patted her shoulder reassuringly before closing the door and making her way to the front door.

Taking a deep breath, Maura braced herself before opening the door. Calling Frankie over had been the most logical course open to her, but the tension that had started with her nightmare was only increasing at the thought of interacting with Frankie. She was committed to see this through however, so she swallowed her apprehension and opened the door.

Sure enough, Frankie was standing on her doorstep. She invited him in, moving to the kitchen.

"Thanks for coming Frankie, can I get you some coffee?"

Frankie nodded, settling onto one of the kitchen stools to wait. Maura bustled around the kitchen, occupying her hands while she tried to work out how to broach the subject of Jane delicately.

When she placed a cup of coffee in front of Frankie he frowned at her shaking hands. "Okay Maura, why am I here? Vague doesn't even begin to describe your text last night. Are you in trouble? I didn't see you at work yesterday."

Maura sighed, again noticing the lack of concern resulting from that observation; her absence from work had become too common an occurrence to alarm anyone. Jane's return was causing her to re-examine her life through the filter of her friend's memory, and she was finding the results less than flattering.

Deciding to just get to the point, Maura stilled her hands and tried to speak evenly. "Something has happened. I'm going to tell you, but I want you to promise that you'll hear me out. Can you do that?"

Frankie fixed a contemplative gaze on Maura. He had done his best to stay supportive of her over the years since Jane had gone missing, but their friendship had been strained several times by Maura's continuing refusal to accept that Jane was gone.

Frankie had looked for Jane harder than anyone to begin with, but there came a point after around six months of fruitless and heartbreaking searching where he had accepted her loss. He had wanted to stop, to accept the inevitable, but Maura hadn't let him, because she was determined to keep looking.

He eventually grew angry with Maura when she continued to keep his mother's hopes alive long after he thought it was time for her to try to move on. They had exchanged harsh words on several occasions, and it was only Angela's interference that had allowed them to rebuild the shaky truce that they still maintained.

Maura realised that this tension between them would make it hard for Frankie to believe the truth she was about to share. She needed to try to keep him as calm as possible so that he wouldn't spook Jane, but surgical precision in conversation was something she'd never possessed.

Frankie took a sip of his coffee before cautiously responding. "Am I going to like whatever this 'something' is? Or are we about to have another disagreement?"

Maura smiled tentatively. "You'll like it once you believe me. What it is…"

Frankie stood up warily. "Is this about Jane? Because you know I'm done talking about that. She's gone Maura, and there's nothing either of us can do to change that."

Maura gasped at Frankie's sudden movement, not expecting him to react so defensively before she'd even started to explain. Frankie seemed to take her surprise as a guilty confession and stepped forward aggressively. "No Maura! I'm not letting you put ma through this again! She has finally started to move past this!"

Maura put her hands up defensively. "Please, let me explain. This time is different!"

Frankie's face contorted with rage, his temper snapping like a dry twig. "How is it different? How is it ever different?"

Maura stopped trying to be gentle. "She's in my bedroom!"

Frankie's face froze. He clearly hadn't been expecting anything like that to come out of Maura's mouth.

After several seconds of gaping at Maura, Frankie spun around angrily and headed for the bedroom. Maura scrambled to follow him, the kitchen counter getting in the way and delaying her. She caught up with Frankie just as he threw the door open and stomped into the room.

At first glance the room looked empty. Frankie was spinning back towards Maura, presumably to yell, when a hand suddenly grabbed his throat and lifted him into the air. Maura let out an inarticulate yell as Jane slammed Frankie into the wall, her face a mask of hatred. Her breath was rasping out of her throat, her body rigid with such a volatile mix of negative emotion that Maura couldn't determine if Jane was acting out of fear, rage or pain.

Frankie was clawing at the iron grip that held him, his face quickly turning red, his feet kicking at empty air as Jane held him a foot off the ground with one hand. Maura rushed into the room, tugging uselessly on Jane's arm before her brain caught up with her body.

"Jane! Let him go! Now!"

Jane's eyes flicked to meet Maura's, revulsion and rage meeting panic and fear. Jane's grip suddenly released, allowing Frankie to drop to the ground, but Jane didn't back off. She remained looming over Frankie, her body poised to attack again, but her eyes stayed fixed on Maura, waiting for permission.

Maura grabbed Jane's hands, tugging her away from Frankie. "Jane, back off! He's not a threat to either of us. Please calm down!"

Jane reluctantly moved away from her brother, her eyes still fixed on Maura with something that looked like betrayal. Her body hadn't relaxed at all; she was quivering with the effort of suppressing her violent urges.

When Maura had managed to get Jane a sufficient distance away from Frankie she dropped her hands. "Now, stay right here. Don't move."

Maura spun back to Frankie, her hands reaching gently for his abused neck. Frankie was crumpled on the floor, but he was moving and moaning which was a good sign. He groaned when Maura's fingers touched his neck, but managed to swat her hand away and struggle to a sitting position.

Frankie's dark eyes zoned in on Jane, who was still bristling and glaring. Maura moved into his line of sight, trying to determine if he was injured.

Frankie frowned at her and managed to speak, his voice croaky but audible. "What the hell Maura? That's not Jane, it's some crazy freak!"

Maura closed her eyes in annoyance before fixing him with a stern glare. "Obviously this wasn't how I wanted to tell you. You need to believe me Frankie. This _is_ Jane. She's been held somewhere for the past four years and experimented on. She has been through an incredible trauma. But she is Jane. She is your sister, Frankie."

Frankie simply scoffed. "You've really lost it this time, Maura."

He pushed her away and gingerly stood, leaning against the wall for balance. "My sister wouldn't attack me. My sister couldn't hold me up with one hand. This is some drugged up freak that has somehow convinced you that she's Jane. When are you going to accept that Jane's gone?"

Maura's temper started to fray, her voice growing desperate as she stepped into Frankie's personal space. "She isn't gone! She's right here! Talk to her, look at her properly!"

Frankie glanced behind Maura, taking in the sight of the bald, scarred woman still poised to pounce at him. "No, I'm done with this. I'm done with you. Don't even think about talking to ma about this Maura, I mean it."

With that outraged declaration Frankie turned and pushed past Maura out of the room. Maura hadn't been expecting the move and was knocked off balance. As she regained her footing and ran after him, she heard the door slam with a foreboding finality.

Maura stuttered to a stop, staring at the closed door in disbelief. Despite the many disastrous scenarios she had considered, she hadn't even entertained the possibility that Frankie wouldn't believe her.

She also hadn't considered that Jane might try to kill him.

Maura took a few moments to compose herself before returning to Jane. Her friend's reaction to Frankie had been so violently different to anything Maura had observed up until this point and she had no idea what had set Jane off. It would be hard to figure out non-verbally, but Maura was determined to try.

She entered the bedroom cautiously, unsure of Jane's mood. She found Jane still standing in the position Maura had ordered her to stay in, her shoulders still hunched in readiness. Her face had settled into a less hostile expression, but Jane was clearly still feeling threatened and betrayed. Her eyes bored through Maura as soon as the doctor entered the room, questions and accusations readily apparent.

Maura almost took a step back when she read Jane's body language. "Jane, what is it? Why did you try to hurt your brother?"

Jane didn't budge at all.

Maura crossed her arms. "Jane, I need you to explain this. Do you remember Frankie?"

Jane looked even more betrayed as she nodded.

"You remember him. Do you understand that he is your brother?"

Jane nodded again, anger starting to make its way through her features.

"Okay Jane, I see you're angry. Are you angry with me?"

Jane squirmed a little before nodding, her fists clenching.

Maura was taken aback by Jane's response. "Because I asked him here?"

Jane flexed her fists, shaking her head.

Maura's brows twitched in confusion. "Because I told him who you were?"

Jane's arms started to shake slightly with the muscle strain. Her head shook again, her eyes starting to plead for understanding.

Maura thought back over the confrontation, realising the moment that Jane had first looked betrayed. "Was it because I stopped you?"

Jane nodded. Maura gasped at the implication.

"You're mad at me because I ordered you not to kill Frankie? He's your brother, why would you want to hurt him?"

Jane's face strained in frustration, her inability to communicate easily obviously distressing her almost as much as whatever she was trying to convey.

Maura took a breath to calm herself and tried to return to simple questions Jane could answer. "Did he do something? Is that why you want to hurt him?"

Jane nodded frantically, her fists bumping against her sides as she became more agitated.

Maura was blindsided by Jane's answer. She knew that Frankie could never hurt his sister intentionally, and certainly not in any way to provoke such a severe response.

"When did this happen? Was it before you were taken?"

A shake of the head.

"After you were taken? But…that's not possible. Frankie hasn't seen you since you disappeared, he spent months looking for you. He couldn't have…"

Jane was pleading again with her whole expression, this time for Maura to believe her.

Maura didn't know what to think. She knew that she couldn't believe Frankie had seen his sister in the last four years, but she also didn't think it was possible for Jane to lie about something like this.

Seeing the obvious turmoil on Maura's face seemed to unsettle Jane. Her face clouded over, becoming blank and unreadable while remaining hostile. Her posture closed in, her arms moving back to her sides and her spine straightening.

Maura saw the change and realised her mistake. "Jane, I'm not saying I don't believe you, please don't pull away. I'm just confused."

She moved over to Jane and tried to put a reassuring hand on her arm. Instead Jane shrank away from her touch, still not moving from the spot she had been ordered to stay on.

Maura saw the flinch and pulled her hand back in shock. She realised she needed to try to make Jane understand that she was still on her side.

"Jane, I'm sorry I ordered you to do something you didn't want to do. You can move if you want to."

Jane instantly stalked out of the room, her disappointment and anger evident in her stride. Maura stared after her in surprise, amazed that Jane had finally taken independent action. This behaviour was different again from anything else she'd seen; she was acting like Jane would when upset, but her rage was directed at Frankie of all people.

Maura suddenly panicked when she realised that she didn't know where Jane might go and quickly followed her. She was surprised again when she found Jane stopped in the middle of the living room staring at the door.

As Maura moved to grab Jane's arm again, an insistent knock sounded from the front door. Maura froze, her hand hanging in the air. Jane spun towards her, a look of panic on her face. Maura touched her shoulder reassuringly, trying to convey trust and safety.

Maura opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted when the door was thrown open and Susie was propelled through. She tripped and fell painfully at their feet. Jane whirled to face the unknown intruder, placing herself protectively between Maura and the door yet again.


	7. Chapter 7

Hi all! This chapter needs a bit of a warning for some fairly strong themes, including violence. Honestly I'm not sure exactly what basket to put the themes in, but they could potentially be triggery, so be warned!

One Beta was harmed in the making of this chapter, but after a bit of emotional recovery time she's okay now! Thanks to JaneyGWF for the beta work as always!

* * *

Maura let out a gasp as she realised Susie was injured and quickly dropped to her knees. The criminologist was valiantly trying to suppress her tears as her face crumpled in pain. Maura gasped again when she noticed swelling around Susie's jaw; she had clearly been hit hard enough to fracture the bone.

Susie grimaced as she met Maura's frantic gaze, her expression apologetic and pained. Maura grabbed her shoulder and pulled her to a seated position as she heard heavy footsteps crossing the room towards them. Maura stepped around Susie and stood to face their unknown assailant.

Except she did know him. She felt Jane's fear heighten as the man entered the room, his expression victorious and arrogant.

Maura frowned in confusion, tugging at Jane to pull her back. "Detective Lucas! What are you…you've been missing for months! What are you doing here?"

Detective John Lucas had been a detective at BPD for around five years. He had first joined the narcotics division and had moved to homicide after Jane's disappearance. Maura had always felt as if he was an annoyance to be tolerated; his work was adequate but never outstanding, his manners were boorish and misogynistic, his intelligence was average at best. He had apparently disappeared around two months ago, with no explanation or indications as to what had happened. Now he was suddenly here, in Maura's house….

The tall, heavy-set man smirked cruelly, his eyes fixed on Jane possessively. "I came for what's mine. It would be a lot easier if you would just stand aside, Doctor Isles."

Maura realised she had instinctively pulled Jane behind her as soon as she understood the predatory posture of the intruder. She stepped forward, deliberately shielding Jane from view.

Maura's voice was riddled with ice and threat. "I may not understand what's going on here, but you won't be taking anything from this house. I suggest you leave immediately."

Lucas' smirk only grew cockier as he stepped towards her, their size difference extremely noticeable as he towered over her menacingly. "Do you now. I'm curious what you think you can do if I decide to stay."

Without further warning his meaty hands shot out, shoving Maura forcefully towards Susie, who was trying to get to her feet. Maura's hip collided painfully with Susie's shoulder, making them tumble to the ground in a tangled heap.

Jane moved to reach out for Maura, her face twisted in panic, but Lucas grabbed her arm and wrenched her towards the door. Jane struggled frantically, trying to pull her arm away. Lucas continued to drag her away, his face clouding with anger.

Maura managed to regain her footing as Jane was about to be pulled across the threshold. She screamed in desperation as she saw the abject fear on her friend's face. "No! Jane, fight him! Hit him!"

Maura saw a flash of relief on Jane's face before she turned to face Lucas. Jane's closed fist swung towards his face, but he managed to avoid it at the last moment, his hand snaking out and trapping her wrist. He used the new leverage to yank Jane's face level with his.

"Subject 314, stop resisting. Resume mode one."

Maura was horrified to see Jane's face go slack, her body relaxing and becoming passive. Lucas dropped her hands, the triumphant smirk on his face making her blood boil. He roughly spun Jane around to face Maura.

Maura couldn't help backing away in shock. The passive Jane she had tried so hard to banish for the last two days was back. Jane stared at her the same way she had when they had first found each other again; blankly, with no sense of recognition.

Susie had finally gotten to her feet and grabbed Maura's elbow, pulling her away from the rogue detective and Jane. Maura shrugged out of her grip and stepped towards Jane, ignoring the man still darkening her doorway.

Maura's voice was pleading and starting to shake. "Jane, please, walk to me. Come over here."

Lucas' face morphed into shock when Jane obeyed, her small shuffling steps bringing her to Maura in seconds. Maura grabbed her arm and led her away from Lucas, towards the kitchen. Susie backed away with them, her angry eyes never leaving the detective.

Rage overtook the surprise on Lucas' face when he saw the three women uniting against him. "Fine. Let's do this the hard way."

He flipped back the jacket he wore, revealing a holstered gun fitted with a silencer. Maura and Susie barely had time to stiffen in fear before he had pulled the gun and aimed at Maura. "Now, let go of her. Subject 314, walk back to me."

Jane started to obey, but Maura tightened her grip and pulled her back. Jane looked between the two, obviously confused.

Lucas huffed in frustration. His eyes flitted between Jane and Maura, evaluating the situation.

Before anyone could react, he shifted his aim to Maura's left shoulder and fired.

Maura screamed as she felt the bullet penetrate her body, pain ripping through her entire left side as the force spun her petite body and she slammed into the ground. Susie let out a pained gasp through her broken jaw, instantly falling to the ground next to Maura and putting a hand over the wound. Maura couldn't help the pained whimper that escaped her, but she resolutely opened her eyes and reached for Jane with her uninjured side.

She managed to choke out a pained order, her vision starting to blur with pain. "Jane, disarm him, now!"

Jane moved towards Lucas and reached for the gun, but he was too fast. He stepped back from Jane and spoke again, his voice cruel and vindictive.

"Subject 314, activate mission Infiltrate. Imprint agent Lucas. Initiate."

Jane looked back at Maura fleetingly, pleadingly, her face filled with terror and regret. Then Maura and Susie could only watch in shock as Jane's whole body went rigid. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her stance straightened.

Their faces paled as they witnessed a remarkable transformation. The pallid skin they had become familiar with over the past two days darkened and returned to Jane's natural tone. The scars that marred Jane's face and head miraculously disappeared, clean unblemished skin replacing the ugly marks without a trace. Jane's glorious mane of raven hair sprouted from her scalp and grew to its original length in seconds.

After no more than a minute Jane opened her eyes. Maura and Susie gaped at the sight of the old Jane Rizzoli, looking as though not a day had passed. It was as if the abused and damaged person they had met had never existed.

Lucas smiled, his expression even more possessive and predatory than before. He sneered at Maura triumphantly, his eyes flicking to her wound cruelly.

Maura's vision was still blurring, the pain of Susie's hand applying pressure almost too much to bear, but she pushed through the agony to croak out a plea. "Jane?"

Jane seemed to wake up. Her head snapped around at the sound of her voice, her eyes taking in the scene before her quickly.

When she noticed Maura's wound her brow creased in confusion. "Doctor Isles? Miss Chang? What happened?"

Maura gasped at the sound of Jane's husky voice. She couldn't help jerking up towards her, with Susie pushing her back down to keep the bleeding under control. Maura cried out as her shoulder hit the ground again.

Lucas stepped forward, drawing Jane's attention. Her face lit up at the sight of him, which turned Maura's stomach.

His voice was carefully modulated to be confident and convincing. "It's okay honey. There was a crazy woman in here, and these two were attacked. They called us for help, we came in and saved them. Unfortunately, Doctor Isles here got caught in the crossfire. I'll go call an ambulance."

Jane nodded as Lucas walked away, pulling out his phone. She crouched down next to Maura, who was staring at Jane in bewilderment.

Jane looked questioningly at Susie. "You know what you're doing there?"

Susie glanced between Jane and Maura, not knowing what to do. She settled on a quick nod, her broken jaw still preventing her from speaking, then returned her attention to Maura's shoulder.

Jane looked at Maura, frowning at her confused expression. "Doctor Isles, just remain calm. John will get you help. It looks like a through-and-through, it's not a big deal."

Maura was on the verge of tears. Jane looked like herself again, she was speaking, but she didn't sound right. Her tone was much too impersonal, too flippant, and Maura couldn't remember the last time Jane had called her 'Doctor Isles'.

Maura swallowed painfully, her emotions as much of a barrier to speaking as the pain. "Jane, what's wrong with you?"

Jane smiled, a lopsided smirk that Maura had never seen her wear before. "I think you've got that backwards Doc. You're the one doing a Swiss cheese impression. I've never been better."

Maura had to hold back a sob. Jane had sounded so uncaring that it physically hurt.

Lucas picked that moment to return. "The ambulance is on its way. Jane, can I speak to you for a sec?"

The smile that Jane gave him sickened both Maura and Susie. They watched Jane reach out for his hand and intertwine their fingers as they walked out of earshot.

Maura finally let a few tears fall. She craned her neck to watch Jane. Lucas seemed to be doing all the talking, with Jane simply nodding.

Maura felt her insides twisting in fear. She glanced at Susie, who was looking at Jane too. The senior criminalist was obviously trying to figure all of this out, but the frustrated look in her eyes told Maura that Susie hadn't had any more luck than she had.

After several minutes of anxious waiting and thinking and watching, Maura and Susie hadn't come up with any ideas. They had no idea what had happened to Jane. She had somehow returned to her normal appearance, looking the same as she had before she had disappeared, but her personality was….wrong. She reacted to Lucas like he was her own personal sun, but she treated Maura and Susie like strangers.

After around five minutes the paramedics arrived. They spotted Maura on the floor immediately and hurried to set up their equipment, blocking her view of Jane. Maura gasped as they moved Susie's hands away from her gunshot wound, the pain spearing through her with renewed intensity.

Maura's vision blurred and swam as she valiantly tried to hold on to consciousness. She reached for Susie's hand futilely as the darkness pulled her under.


	8. Chapter 8

Hi all! Welcome to another somewhat heavy chapter. Honestly the same warning needs to be on this one as was on the last, as in there are very dark themes and events depicted. But hopefully you'll enjoy it anyway!

Thanks as always to my traumatised beta, JaneyGWF, you're a trooper!

* * *

Maura groaned as she fought her way back to consciousness yet again. She had been on pain medication enough times to recognise the sensations and groaned again, remembering the painful withdrawals she had experienced the last time. She knew she needed to get off the drugs as soon as possible to avoid going through that nightmare again.

She recognised the sounds and smells of the hospital. Her recollection of how she had come to be here was fuzzy, a result of the drugs.

As she finally forced her eyes open she recoiled instinctively. Detective Lucas was hovering over her, his smarmy smirking face mere inches from hers.

Maura closed her eyes against the nausea that suddenly flooded her entire being. The combination of disorientation from the drugs and being that close to the man who had shot her and done…

_Jane_

Her eyes shot open in fear. "Jane! Where's Jane?"

Lucas shifted closer to Maura, his grin turning condescending. "She's interviewing Miss Chang. We need to get a description of the woman who attacked you both. She could still be dangerous you know!"

Maura fought the urge to spit in his face, instead keeping her voice steady. "You can't stop us talking. How exactly do you expect to explain a bullet from your gun ending up in my shoulder?"

Lucas just smiled, standing up to tower over the bed. "Obviously I was trying to hit the intruder. It's not my fault you jumped in front of her at the last moment. She had already hit Miss Chang across the face and was about to attack me, so I really had no choice but to fire."

Maura scoffed. "Really? Self-defence from a fictitious intruder? That's your story?"

Lucas dropped the fake smile. "No, Doctor. That's our story. Jane is talking it over with Miss Chang now, and then she'll come and talk to you about it. You chose to do this the hard way last time; why not choose the easy way?"

Maura fought against the effects of the drugs to sit up defiantly, meeting his gaze fearlessly. "I'm not letting you use Jane. Whatever you've done to her, I'll find a way to fix it."

Lucas pasted another fake innocent look on his features. "Me? Would I do anything to my beloved Jane? She is my fiancée after all."

Maura jerked further upright in disgust. "Fiancée? She obviously despises you! Before you activated whatever transformation that was, she was desperately trying to get away from you!"

The smile turned cruel. "She doesn't despise me now. She loves me. Do you know why?"

Maura simply stared hatefully at the loathsome man.

He cocked an eyebrow at her display of resistance before continuing. "Because I told her to. She'll do anything I ask. Anything at all."

Maura couldn't hold back her anger, lunging pointlessly at the arrogant detective. He simply stepped back out of range and crossed his arms mockingly. "And don't even think about ordering her around anymore. I don't know why she was obeying your commands before, but she's imprinted on only me now. You're powerless."

Maura certainly felt powerless at that moment. Her body was punishing her for the rash movement, shards of pain from her shoulder overpowering the pain meds while her stomach lurched in protest at the sudden motion. Her mind was reeling, trying to absorb everything Lucas was saying and reconcile it with everything she had observed in Jane, both before and after the miraculous transformation she had witnessed. She grabbed fistfuls of the itchy hospital blanket, trying to ground herself and regain some semblance of control over the situation.

Lucas wasn't going to give her the chance though. He stepped forward, pushing his repulsive face right up to hers yet again. His breath was foul, a mixture of old cigarettes and coffee. She was forced to clench her eyes shut to concentrate on not throwing up.

Despite her struggle she could still hear his dangerous tone. "Enough games. Are you going to tell the other cops the story I want you to tell, or do you need more convincing?"

Maura forced her eyes open to stare back defiantly.

He glared for a few long moments before stepping back with resignation. "Fine. Hard way."

With that ominous declaration he turned and strode out of the room, leaving Maura to fall gasping back against the pillows. She lay there focussing on breathing for several minutes, her body exhausted after the brief but draining confrontation.

As she was starting to regain her strength and her breathing evened out, a nurse came in to check her vitals. The woman bustled around, asking the usual questions and taking readings before leaving as abruptly as she'd arrived.

Maura decided to take the opportunity to get up and find out what had happened to Susie. Between the injuries she had witnessed at the house and Lucas' insinuations, Maura was deeply worried about her friend. She focussed on stilling her body and building up her energy in preparation to move. As she settled and relaxed her mind wandered back to the start of her true friendship with Susie.

The awkward transition from work colleague to friend had happened sometime after Maura's second mandated leave from work. Maura grimaced slightly as she recalled the circumstances, the whole period being one of the darkest of her life.

She had returned to work after a month of organising the ongoing search for Jane. Although she had managed to plan and set in motion the search, her commitment to her work just wasn't the same. She had lost the spark that made her enjoy her work.

It wasn't just Jane's absence, although the loss still weighed on her. When Maura first walked into her morgue, her steps heavy with the knowledge that the loud detective wouldn't be visiting and bringing life to the sterile environment, she felt a deep melancholy, but she still felt hope that she would find her friend one day.

No, it was the fact that her faith in her colleagues and humanity in general had been damaged by the events of the last four months.

Despite the fact that Jane was missing, her body never found, the BPD had officially written her off. There was no ongoing investigation, only a cold case. Korsak had continued to push for more resources, but Cavanaugh had apparently been ordered to take everyone off the case and move them on to more important priorities. After only a few weeks Korsak also stopped pushing, accepting the loss and moving on.

The BPD giving up had almost caused Angela to give up as well. She still listened when Maura talked about her latest theories and leads, but she could see that the urgency had left the Rizzoli matriarch. At least subconsciously, Angela had started to accept the reality of Jane's death.

Frankie and Tommy had followed her lead. Tommy had stopped looking and hoping months ago, deciding that it was better to move on. Frankie was still following leads on his days off, but as with his mother Maura didn't feel like he was committed to the search. It felt like she was being humoured.

The lack of support and understanding from the people closest to her had crippled her motivation to help others. Maura had always found meaning in her work through the knowledge that she was speaking for the dead. This knowledge had been based on her belief that all people deserved to have their stories heard, to have their lives made meaningful even after they had ended.

With the loss of Jane, her translator between her logical mind and people's erratic behaviour, she had been forced to evaluate her relationships using her own criteria. Without Jane buffering her from the subtleties of speech and the hidden meanings inherent within communication, Maura had reverted to measuring responses quantitatively. She had found the results less than encouraging.

When she asked for help in her search for Jane, she was rebuffed firmly, told she was holding out false hope, or angrily informed that she was wasting everyone's time and resources. When she tried to explain her point of view, people rolled their eyes and rapidly exited the conversation, muttering about oversharing and literal interpretation. When she attempted to socialise outside of work and discuss her interests, the conversation would be rapidly steered to a more mundane topic and Maura would be left feeling impossibly isolated from the group.

Without the emotional filter she had previously used when interacting with others, Maura had quickly reverted to her icy impartial persona, only interacting with people when necessary for work. People were no longer potential friends to spend time with; they were emotional time sinks that would occupy her attention and distract her from her goals.

Maura soon realised that she didn't have the same passion for assisting the dead in finding closure; they had become just another body that someone would forget about in a few months. Instead of being able to imagine a family who missed them and mourned the hole left in their lives, she could only focus on the stark reality in front of her; determine the cause, catch the killer, close the case, move on to the next. There would always be another body, there would always be another murderer. People weren't wonderful creatures that were the answer to a meaningful and fulfilling life; people sucked.

The only person who had truly seen Maura and accepted her was Jane, and life had seen fit to demonstrate to Maura that people would let her down whether they wanted to or not. It was far more logical to avoid attachment, so her isolation was her own choice rather than the result of more loss.

As Maura grew more disillusioned with her life and her work, she considered simply quitting and finding something else to do with her time. She could take up a pure research position where she could avoid other people and work in solitude. Or she could go back to university and study a new field. One which might give her more satisfaction than continuing to toil at a job she no longer believed made a difference.

Ultimately she had decided to remain where she was until she had a definite result in her search for Jane. She did still care about her, and she felt she owed Jane the decency of exhausting every possible lead. Not only had the detective made her life bearable while she was in it, she had also saved her life by pushing her out of the way of a falling wall, possibly trading her own life in the process. Maura had resolved to at least attempt to repay that debt with either a safe return to her family or a proper burial.

Maura had completely and purposefully drifted away from everyone closest to her, and without her work to ground her in reality she relied on the search for Jane to anchor her, give her purpose and stop her from losing her mind.

She almost lost it anyway.

Around six months after Jane's disappearance, a body was brought in for Maura to autopsy. She had been out of town when the scene was discovered, so had missed the initial investigation.

When she opened the body bag, she saw Jane lying on the slab.

Maura didn't actually remember what had happened next. She had woken up in a psych ward under a 48 hour observation order. The doctors had later told her that she had started screaming incoherently as soon as she saw the body, which had not in fact been Jane's body at all. The woman bore a passing resemblance to Jane, but she was not Jane.

Susie had come running in when she heard Maura screaming and tried to calm her down. Instead of relaxing, Maura had grabbed a scalpel and screamed at Susie to stay away from 'Jane'. At that point other technicians had heard the commotion and called for backup, the morgue rapidly filling with people all shouting at Maura. Susie hadn't backed away, and in her broken state Maura had panicked, dropped the scalpel and grabbed her, holding her between herself and the detectives like a human shield.

Maura had worked herself into such a frantic state that she had eventually collapsed, allowing two detectives to restrain her. She hadn't actually held the scalpel anywhere near Susie, which was the only thing that prevented her arrest, along with Susie refusing to press charges.

Maura had been completely horrified by her behaviour, her logical mind able to recognise that she needed help. She checked herself in to a psychiatric facility immediately to get her head in order.

Again.

While she was there, Maura had openly talked to her doctors about everything that had led to her breakdown. Obviously they had spoken about her losing Jane and the toll that had taken, but they had also talked about why knocking over that domino had caused such a chain reaction throughout the rest of her life.

It had taken a lot of hard truths, but Maura left the facility ready to regain her life. She knew it would be a different life than the one she had led before, but she would find a way to make it work.

The first thing she had done was find Susie and apologise for assaulting her. Susie for her part had been completely forgiving, inviting Maura in for coffee and talking with her for hours. They had cleared the air, establishing the beginnings of a real friendship between them outside of their working relationship. Maura had been convinced that Susie cared about her, and allowed the loyal criminalist to thaw some of the ice she had let build around her feelings. It was the beginning of Maura starting to let people back in, although they both knew nobody would ever be allowed as close as Jane had been.

Susie insisted on establishing a Friday night movie night, to ensure Maura wasn't left alone any more. Despite her more pessimistic outlook on the rest of humanity, Maura had at least found someone she could rely on. As time went on, they developed a friendly companionship, which allowed Maura to find some small meaning in her work again since she was once more working with someone she cared about.

However, she still knew that she would never trust and rely on anyone as much as she had with Jane. The bond they had experienced would be something that Maura cherished for the rest of her life, but she had accepted that she had to try to live her life without Jane. She had decided to try to move on.

Maura sighed. All that work was undone now. Jane was alive, but she wasn't the Jane Maura remembered. She had been so altered by unknown forces that she may as well be a different person. It seemed as if Maura's faith in humanity was destined to take a few more hits before this was resolved.

If it was ever resolved.

Feeling slightly stronger, Maura decided to try to sit up. She opened her eyes and gathered her strength, about to move when she heard footsteps approaching the door.

Maura's breath caught as she saw Jane step through the door. Her swagger was the same as she remembered, but Jane's steely expression was decidedly different to the kind face Maura fondly recalled.

Maura couldn't help the hopeful gasp that escaped her. "Jane?"

Jane's eyes swept over Maura appraisingly, showing no sign of familiarity. "I'd prefer if you called me Detective Rizzoli, Doctor. How is the shoulder?"

Maura felt like she'd been slapped with the impersonal tone Jane was using. "It's…Jane, what's wrong with you? Don't you remember me?"

Jane's brows inched together in frustration. "Of course I remember you. You're Doctor Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner. We were just at your house. There was a crazy woman there, you and Susie Chang were attacked. You called us for help, we came in and saved you. Unfortunately, Doctor Isles got caught in the crossfire."

Maura remembered that those were almost the exact words Lucas had used back at the house. Jane was just parroting them back at her, which is why the sentence didn't quite make sense.

Maura tried another way. "Jane, do you remember what happened before Detective Lucas showed up? Do you remember staying at my house? Do you remember following me home from the park?"

Jane's eyes glazed over for a moment before her gaze hardened again. "No, I haven't been to your house prior to today. Lucas told me you were trying to make up a false report about today's events. He has asked me to convince you to tell the truth."

Jane moved to Maura's left side and placed a hand next to her bandaged shoulder. Maura could feel the menace in the position and shrank back slightly, not knowing what to do. She was completely thrown by Jane's behaviour; it was completely different from both the Jane she remembered being friends with and also from the Jane that had found her two days ago, mute and damaged.

Jane leaned in close to her face to whisper firmly. "Here is the truth Doctor. You and Susie Change were meeting in your house for breakfast. A crazy woman came in and threatened you. You managed to call the station and Detective Lucas received the call, having just returned from a long absence. He and I rushed over to find the woman and the two of you standing near the kitchen. She had already hit Miss Chang and broken her jaw. When we drew our weapons the intruder moved to attack you. Detective Lucas was forced to fire, but you moved into the line of fire and were shot. The woman used the confusion to escape out the front door and we haven't seen her since. Detective Lucas then called an ambulance while Miss Chang kept pressure on your wound."

Maura didn't react to the story, she was still trying to understand Jane's behaviour and think of something to say to snap her out of it. Her breathing had picked up in pace as Jane talked, reacting to the underlying threat in her tone.

Jane frowned at Maura's lack of reaction. "Doctor Isles, are you in agreement that this is what happened, or are you still intending to lie about these events?"

Maura still hadn't thought everything through, but she had to try something. "Jane, you know that's not what happened. Lucas broke Susie's jaw, he dragged her to my house and tossed her on the floor. You were trying to get away from him until he did something to you, I don't understand what. But Jane, he's using you, he's evil, he's…"

Jane cut her off by roughly putting a hand over her mouth, stifling anything else Maura might have said. "You are wrong. John is a good cop. He risked his life to come and find me. I've been missing for four years, and he was the only one who cared enough to keep looking for me. He saved me and gave me my life back. I owe him everything. I love him. And you will not be allowed to lie about him."

Jane gave Maura a moment to think before continuing in a dangerous, low voice. "Now, are you going to tell the truth? Or do you need convincing?"

Maura could only stare back at her with a teary betrayed gaze. Her angry frown was apparently enough to tell Jane that she wasn't going to cooperate.

Jane put her mouth right next to Maura's ear. "Fine. Hard way."

Jane pulled back and without warning pressed her thumb into Maura's injured shoulder, keeping her other hand clamped over her mouth. Maura's eyes widened in pain as she screamed into Jane's hand. The pain was blinding, shooting through her whole body in waves as Jane twisted her thumb and sent sickening spikes of agony through the woman who had once been her best friend.

Maura couldn't hear or see anything past the burning pain. She screamed involuntarily, her throat going hoarse within seconds. Her limbs writhed under the covers, but Jane pressed an elbow to her chest with crushing force to keep her in the bed.

After what felt like hours the pain stopped. Jane left her hand in place on Maura's mouth as the broken doctor slumped in exhaustion, rasping air in through her nose, her eyes clenched closed.

A relatively gentle slap to the face brought Maura back to reality and she realised she'd greyed out from the pain. Her eyes snapped open to find Jane hovering over her once again, her eyes impassive and cold. Maura could find no sign of compassion or guilt over what Jane had just done to her. In fact there was no emotion at all; it was as if she was staring into the eyes of a machine, not a real woman.

Jane waited for Maura's breathing to settle before speaking again, her voice calm and firm. "Now, are you going to tell the truth? Or do you need convincing?"

Maura noticed the repetition again in Jane's choice of phrase. She knew she couldn't take any more torture, especially from the woman who looked like her best friend, so she simply nodded, trying to choke back tears.

Jane appraised her for a moment before releasing her mouth and stepping away. "Thank you Doctor Isles. I'm sure an officer will be by shortly to take your statement. I hope nothing impedes your recovery."

Maura could only tremble and gape at Jane as she turned and strode out of the room. As she watched her pass through the doorway she realised Lucas was standing there, and had probably watched the whole exchange.

His smug expression said it all. He knew he had won.

As he turned and swaggered away, Maura finally let the tears she had been holding in flow freely.


	9. Chapter 9

Hi All!

So here is the next chapter finally! I finally got a day off, so naturally it was filled with writing! Apologies for the delay between updates, unfortunately it was expected with my current work schedule, but I promise I'll finish these stories eventually!

Thanks to JaneyGWF for beta-ing once again. Don't worry, there was no need to commit her to an institution after the last few chapters, and this one is a lot happier! Which may say more about the gloominess of the last chapters than the particular happiness of this one...anyway, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

After Jane and Lucas left Maura couldn't help breaking down and sobbing. She had no concept of how long she lay there, chest heaving, sobs clawing their way past a constricted throat, tears soaking her pillow.

Maura was finally jolted out of her misery when an equally miserable Susie Chang walked into her room. Susie didn't comment on Maura's tears, having obviously been crying herself; she simply pulled a chair next to her bed, gently grasped Maura's hand and sat down. The comforting gesture set Maura off again, her tears quieter now but just as sad.

Susie's face was showing the results of Lucas' assault. Her skin was a mottled mess of blues, reds and purples, with a bandage concealing part of the damage. Her jawline was swollen and misshapen. The clinical part of Maura noted that the bandage indicated a simple, small break in Susie's jaw, which wouldn't require wiring or surgery. Susie would be very sore for a few weeks, but she would recover with little or no ongoing issues.

The extent of her emotional damage was more difficult to determine from a visual inspection. Maura had never seen her friend so defeated. Susie was hunched in the chair, the arm that wasn't occupied with gripping Maura's hand tucked defensively around her own torso. Maura could only guess what Jane had said or done to her under orders from Lucas.

Unable to think of anything to say, Maura simply squeezed the hand in her grasp and continued to cry silently.

The pair sat in silence until the nurse came in. She checked Maura's vitals, a slight frown ghosting over her features as she looked over the history for the last two hours.

She leaned over Maura with a concerned look. "Is everything alright Doctor Isles? Your vitals seem to have spiked about an hour ago."

Maura was concentrating so hard on preventing herself from flinching at the nurse's proximity, her position so similar to the one Jane had adopted while torturing her, that she almost missed the question. When Susie squeezed her hand she realised a response was expected.

"I'm fine!" Maura almost winced at how panicked she sounded. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Sorry. I'm fine, thank you. I probably got a bit emotional when I was talking to the detectives about the incident, but I'm fine now."

The nurse's expression had turned sympathetic at the mention of the incident that had caused Maura's injuries. "I can understand that. I hope they catch the woman who broke into your house, she sounds like she's pretty dangerous!"

Maura gave her a weak smile, which apparently convinced the nurse that she agreed. The woman bustled around for a few moments before leaving.

Susie watched her go before turning back to Maura with a worried look. Maura sighed, closing her eyes to think for a moment. "I think we need to play along for now Susie and agree with his version of events; give him no reason to come after us. We're not exactly in a position to disprove anything he says."

Susie's face fell before she nodded. Her shoulders somehow slumped even further, her hope that Maura might have a plan dashed.

Susie sat with Maura until a nurse came and gently requested that she return to her own room. Maura watched her go without a word, not knowing what to say to make the situation better.

The following night was one of the worst of Maura's life. Her gunshot wound was sending stabbing agony through her shoulder as she had pleaded with the nurse to dial her medication down to the lowest possible level. She remembered all too well the battle against physical addiction to pain medication and had no desire to repeat that experience. She also knew she needed a clear head to try to make sense of the last few days. Since the pain made sleeping impossible, she used the night hours to think.

Her first impulse was to give in and start feeling sorry for herself. After all, her former best friend had just invaded her hospital room and tortured her, the man responsible for her injuries and possibly the whole situation had walked away victorious and she had no plan whatsoever for how to fix any of her current problems.

She had discovered early on in her life that her logical mind struggled to understand strong emotion. It had a tendency to sneak up on her and overwhelm her at the most inconvenient moments. The magnitude of the reaction was often proportional to the amount of time she had been suppressing her reaction to a traumatic event before allowing herself to feel. She could clearly recall several incidents of a suppressed emotional hurt causing her to burst into tears in public settings, leading to further embarrassment.

Since she was alone in the hospital bed, instead of fighting the urge to wallow in her feelings she indulged the impulse. She had another really good cry, allowing herself to feel everything in as raw a form as she could take. She had learned over the past few years that the fallout from attempts to minimise the effects of emotions within herself had only increased in magnitude, as evidenced by her breakdown, so she instead tried to open herself to them completely in an attempt to get through the anguish as quickly as possible.

She forced her thoughts to revisit every aspect of the last few days. She remembered her frustration when Jane had returned, but not been herself. She felt the confusion she experienced during Frankie's visit, and the betrayal she felt when she realised he was somehow involved in Jane's trauma. She recalled the panic she felt when Susie was propelled into her house, immediately followed by Lucas.

She gasped at her body's painfully involuntary flinch as she relived the violent events that followed. Jane being dragged away, the fear on her face as Lucas overpowered her, the return of the passive Jane, the one Maura had been battling to get past to find the real Jane. The pain of being shot was a secondary concern to the panic she had felt at being taken out of the fight; to the knowledge that she might be unable to help Jane.

She had been desperate when she yelled out orders at Jane, trying to get her to defend herself. The idea of forcing Jane to do anything was repugnant to her, especially after how Jane had reacted to being forced to stop attacking Frankie, but Maura had been out of options.

It hadn't mattered in the end. Lucas obviously knew what had happened to Jane, because he knew exactly what words to say to her to force her to obey him. When he had activated some sort of mission mode Jane had completely changed, both in physical form and in personality.

Maura's heart wrenched at the memory of the split second between Lucas giving the order and the transformation beginning. Jane had looked at Maura, and the expression on her face told Maura that she knew what was about to happen to her. She knew she was about to be changed, and that the real Jane would be gone, subject to Lucas' will. She knew Maura wouldn't be able to help her.

She had looked terrified.

Looking back now, Maura felt awful for seeing Jane go through that ordeal, but it also gave her some hope. It was clear that the Jane she was dealing with now was a stranger. She had no memory of their friendship, but more than that; she showed no sign of the compassion and care that characterised the Jane she remembered. She also showed none of the humour, the critical thinking, the mannerisms or the passion that made Jane the person she had been. Her speech had been stilted, with clear sections that were obviously copying word for word something that Lucas had told her to say. It was blatantly obvious to Maura that she was Jane in body only. It was also obvious that she would do anything that Lucas told her to do without hesitation.

The fact that Maura had seen how inhuman Jane was acting made the acts of torture she was subjected to slightly less soul shattering than they would have been if Maura had believed it was really Jane that had done it to her. The pain had been excruciating, but Maura didn't felt betrayed or hurt by Jane, she only felt anger towards the person she knew was truly responsible; Lucas.

After she had stewed and cried and agonised for hours, Maura had a headache in addition to the pain in her shoulder. She was exhausted, she was extremely thirsty, but she was also feeling slightly better. She had managed to process at least some of what had happened, and she was ready to come up with her next move.

The most empowering thing that Maura knew was that there was nothing she could have done differently in all of this. That was the one thing she had always been able to cling to. She had done everything to look for Jane, she had welcomed her into her home and tried her best to understand what had happened after Jane found her, and she had done everything she could to protect both Jane and Susie from Lucas. In fact she was proud of herself for standing up to Lucas, even though she had been stuck in a hospital bed about to pass out.

That surety helped put things in perspective. There was no logical requirement to second guess the actions she had taken, there was only a need to figure out what to do next.

Her first priority needed to be to protect Jane and Susie as much as possible. It seemed as though Lucas was going to a fair bit of effort to ensure his reputation and position at BPD remained as it had been before his disappearance, which meant that he most likely intended to stay in Boston. Since he had brought Jane to the hospital, Maura also surmised that he intended to have Jane return to her old life in some form. There were still too many people in the hospital who would know Jane from her multiple previous visits, so he must have already told someone about Jane's return.

Maura was unsure why Lucas hadn't simply killed her and Susie and come up with a cover story. It would be a lot easier than going through all this effort to make them both comply with his wishes. She didn't think it was a matter of morals; Lucas had clearly shown that he had no problem violating someone's personal rights, especially with his treatment of Jane. He also didn't seem to be squeamish; Maura remembered that he already had several 'justified' police shootings on his record.

She thought over any behaviour of his that she had observed in his time at BPD. He had always been a proud member of the 'boys club'; making jokes about the women in the building, engaging in borderline sexist and harassing behaviour, dismissing opinions that weren't in line with his own Neanderthal thinking. He also had a tendency to brag, as well as exaggerate his own abilities while belittling other people's skills and contributions. Maura was honestly surprised that he'd managed to make it through the ranks to detective with the attitude he had displayed. His work had been shoddy and incomplete, and she knew that he had one of the lowest closure rates in the state.

She suddenly realised that she may have stumbled on the answer to her own question. Lucas had a need to feel important and superior, which he naturally wasn't. He would take great pleasure in being able to outwit Maura and Susie and get away with it. He would also derive great satisfaction from seeing someone as strong willed as Jane subject to his will.

Maura's stomach rolled again as she thought about how much control Lucas currently had over Jane. She resolved to find a way to get her away from him as soon as possible, to limit the damage done.

She fervently hoped that Lucas had informed BPD of Jane's return already. This would ensure that she was kept at the station answering questions until her family was contacted. Once Angela knew that Jane was back, she would make sure Jane wasn't left alone for the next week, which should keep her safe from Lucas. Maura resolved to contact Angela as soon as she could to ensure she knew about Jane's return. At this point Maura knew she couldn't tell Angela what was really going on, but she should at least be made aware that her daughter had been found alive.

The next thing Maura needed to decide was how to act around Jane and Lucas. Her immediate concern was whether to go along with the cover story invented by Lucas and parroted by Jane. She had told Susie that it would be better to go along with it, and after further consideration that still seemed to be the most prudent course of action. It would appeal to Lucas' sense of superiority if he thought he'd won, and hopefully that would divert his attention away from Maura while she looked for a way to help Jane.

Which led Maura to contemplate her biggest problem. How to help Jane.

She didn't have any real idea of what had been done to her; she could only speculate based on her observations. That wasn't going to be enough to break whatever brainwashing or programming that was making her compliant to Lucas' commands. Maura had seen enough to know that someone had used trigger words to force Jane to behave in certain ways, and unless Maura understood those triggers and exactly what they did, she would be unable to get through to the real Jane.

The silent Jane she had been interacting with hadn't been able to offer up any new clues. She had no new names to investigate, no new locations, no physical evidence to examine.

Maura was starting to despair again when she realised there was one new piece of information.

Detective Lucas.

He obviously knew where Jane had been. He must have been involved in the process somehow in order to know the control words for Jane. He had also referred to himself as 'Agent Lucas' when he had activated Jane's programming, which suggested he worked for the people who had taken Jane.

Now she just had to figure out how that helped her.

Then she remembered: Lucas had disappeared without notice for around two months before suddenly turning up in Maura's house yesterday. He hadn't informed his partner or his boss that he was going anywhere, he had simply failed to turn up for work one morning.

If Maura could somehow trace his movements, she might be able to get a lead on where Jane had been.

She realised she could also look into his movements before his disappearance. If he had been involved in this since before Jane's disappearance, it was possible he might have visited the location she had been held.

Maura smiled for the first time since talking with Frankie the morning before. Finally, after all these years, she had something to go on. She had a lead to chase.

She had hope that she might find some answers.

The sound of the door opening startled Maura into attempting to sit up, which she immediately regretted as a new pang of pain emanated from her shoulder. The nurse saw the grimace on her face and hurried to her side, gently assisting Maura to lie back down. After checking Maura's vitals she muttered something about stubborn patients and walked back out.

Maura glanced at the clock in her room, realising it was time for first round at the hospital. She had gotten through the night without succumbing to the need for painkillers. She couldn't help smiling again.

After a few hours the door swung open again and a timid Susie Chang walked in and sat down, her position and posture identical to the day before. She was dressed in the clothes she had been wearing the day before, which implied that she had been released from the hospital.

Susie's hand found Maura's again and squeezed passively. Maura smiled and squeezed back more assertively, before she pulled on Susie's hand to get her attention. Susie's eyes snapped up in surprise.

Maura couldn't help smiling. "Don't worry Susie. I have a plan."

Despite the swelling, Maura could still see the relieved smile that blossomed on Susie's face.

* * *

Please let me know if you have any thoughts, suggestions, comments, anything to say!


	10. Chapter 10

Hi all!

First, sorry. I know it's been ages. Part of the reason is because I've been working on Fire in the Blood, but I've also been a lot busier than I anticipated. I'll try to do better! Thanks for your patience!

Second, huge thanks to JaneyGWF for her beta magic!

Third, I hope you enjoy the chapter, there will hopefully be more a lot sooner than last time! Please let me know what you think, it's always very appreciated when people take the time to leave a bit of feedback!

* * *

Maura waited a few moments, wanting to enjoy the look on Susie's face before it was overwritten with concern again. Although it was true that she had a plan, it wasn't a great one, and she definitely had more questions than answers at this point.

Maura didn't let go of Susie's hand as she started to talk, needing the comfort as much as the battered criminologist seemed to. "Now, before we get to the plan, tell me if you found anything in Jane's samples."

Susie straightened in her seat, her face relaxing as she returned to talking about her familiar science. "I didn't get far."

A spasm of pain crossed Susie's face as soon as she croaked out the short sentence and was immediately reminded of her broken jaw. Maura realised the problem and cringed. "I'm sorry Susie, I forgot about your jaw. Please, don't try to speak. Type it out on your phone instead"

Susie nodded gratefully and pulled out her phone, opening up a note file and typing furiously. She handed the phone over to Maura and sat back to wait for her to absorb the information.

_'__I managed to complete the initial analysis on the blood, which turned up a few oddities. I ran the sample through the mass spectrometer, and found varying concentrations of multiple elements not usually found in blood. I couldn't match the combination to anything in our database, but I only had time to try the database at the lab, I didn't get a chance to compare the combination with any external databases. I also discovered that the blood had a very low white cell count. I had just started a closer examination of the cells when Detective Lucas found me and I had to stop_.'

Maura flinched slightly at the mention of Lucas. "What happened?"

Susie took the phone back, again hammering away at the screen.

'_I don't know how, but he knew I was working on something that wasn't for a case. He came into the lab and walked straight over to me and pulled me away from the microscope. I was surprised to see him, since I thought he'd disappeared. He demanded that I leave with him immediately, and put his hand on his gun. I decided to try to get away from him on the way out of the station, since there was nobody else in the labs that could help. I packed up the samples, since we agreed that nobody else could be allowed to see them. Unfortunately he dragged me __through __the morgue loading dock, and we didn't see anyone else. When we got to his car, he grabbed the samples out of my hand and demanded I get in. I tried to hit him and get away, but he was expecting me to try something. He hit me across the jaw, then pushed me into the back of his car while I was stunned. By the time I realised what had happened we were already moving, and he had the sample with him in the front.'_

Susie handed back the phone, looking downtrodden after remembering her experience with Lucas. Maura looked at her with sympathy after she finished reading, having a new appreciation for Susie's bravery. The young criminologist hadn't been exposed to much violence first hand in her time with BPD as far as Maura knew. In fact, the incident of Maura threatening her during a mental breakdown was, to her knowledge and shame, the only violent trauma Susie had endured prior to yesterday.

Maura couldn't help the quaver in her voice, her hand finding Susie's again and squeezing for emphasis. "I realise it must have been terrifying to be assaulted by someone who is supposed to protect you, but you need to remember that you are okay. He can't hurt you here, and we aren't going to give him any reason to hurt either of us anymore."

Susie nodded, still looking glum. Maura sighed, realising Susie wasn't scared. She was disappointed in herself. "Please listen to me. We're the only ones who have any idea that there is anything amiss, and we have to do everything we can to help Jane. And that's exactly what you've done. You tried to fight back against Lucas, even though he is twice your size. You did everything you could to stop him taking those samples. It's not your fault that he was in a superior tactical position. It's not your fault that he somehow knew about the lab tests. None of this is your fault."

Maura paused to check that Susie was listening, and was encouraged to see that her shoulders starting to lift out of their dejected sag. "Now, I'm going to be stuck here for a while, which means you'll be taking point. And I know you can do it, because you've been covering for me and saving me for years now. I wouldn't still be here if not for your support. I need you, Susie. Are you up to it?"

Susie nodded, her face lightening as she seemed took Maura's words to heart. Maura smiled at her encouragingly, relieved that she had gotten through to her.

Susie frowned suddenly, reaching for the phone eagerly as she remembered something. '_I don't know if this is important. When I realised where Lucas was driving us to I started to panic. I remember looking around the car for anything I could use to get the upper hand when we got to your house, but there wasn't anything in the back seat, and his car had a grill separating the back seat so I couldn't reach him. But I did notice that he was following a GPS tracker. It didn't look like he'd programmed in your address, he was just following a dot on the map. When we reached your house and he realised where we were, he rolled his eyes and muttered something. I think he might have been tracking Jane.'_

Maura's eyes grew wide at the realisation. "So possibly one of her implants contains a GPS tracker."

Susie nodded frantically. Maura frowned, confused as to why nobody else had come looking for Jane if it was as easy as following a GPS signal. Jane had seemed so sure that somebody would be after her when Maura had asked.

When Maura glanced up she realised Susie was frowning as well. '_So do you have any idea what happened yesterday? With Jane suddenly growing hair and her scars disappearing?'_

Maura realised she hadn't filled Susie in on the amazing discoveries she'd made that night after Susie left. She had no idea about the broken bottle and subsequent revelation of Jane's accelerated healing, or Frankie's visit and the possible implications.

As she filled Susie in, Maura reflected back on the confrontation with Frankie. She still couldn't believe that Frankie would be involved in hurting Jane, but on the other hand she did believe Jane's response to him. Something had happened in the past four years to make Jane believe that Frankie was a mortal enemy. The reaction had been strong enough to convince Maura that there was something behind it, and until she knew the reason for Jane's fear and anger, Frankie couldn't be trusted near Jane, or Susie for that matter.

Susie had frowned in disbelief at each new disclosure, her feelings apparently similar to Maura's both on Frankie's involvement and on the unknown forces behind Jane's unnatural healing ability. She lifted the phone again, her expression serious and thoughtful as she composed her message.

'_There must be something in Jane's blood that allows her to heal. That would explain the elevated levels of those foreign substances. It also explains why I couldn't find a match. If we're right about Jane being held by an illegal and secret group, they wouldn't have their miracle healing ability on file. I didn't see anything unusual under the microscope though, so I don't think Jane's blood cells have been changed, there is just something extra in there.'_

Maura nodded in response to Susie's conclusions. "I think you're right. The low white cell count could indicate that Jane has been on some kind of immunosuppressant. It might have been necessary to prevent her body rejecting whatever they added to her blood. Did you get to do any drug screening?"

Susie shook her head in response, which didn't surprise Maura. They both frowned as they contemplated the information available, knowing that they didn't have enough to draw any conclusions. It seemed as though they had hit a dead end unless they could obtain some more samples.

Maura tried to move on to something more certain and positive. "Alright, let's try to work out what to do next. As you know, I've exhausted all avenues of investigation that were open to me. However, now that we know Detective Lucas is heavily involved with Jane's disappearance, we might be able to use him to find out what happened to her."

Susie nodded, her expression growing determined in response to Maura's idea. "What we need to do is try to trace his movements over the last four years. We can start around the time that Jane disappeared.'

Her expression clouded as she thought back to that day. "I don't remember if he was involved in the investigation or the bomb threat that day. Do you happen to recall if he was officially involved? Everything gets a bit fuzzy for me after Jane and I went into the building."

Susie shook her head sadly, the sympathy on her face clear. Maura cleared her throat and kept talking. "Well, hopefully we can find out where he was and get a lead."

The pain in her shoulder was starting to bother her again, the sharp pain a reminder of the injuries she had suffered during the collapse of the building four years ago. Her leg ached slightly as well, a possible psychosomatic flare-up in reaction to her memories. The old badly healed injury usually didn't hurt unless she'd been standing for long periods, but now it throbbed in concert with her newly injured shoulder.

Maura gritted her teeth and resolutely pushed past the pain to continue formulating a plan. "In order to do this, we'll need to get some help. We need to get access to the records from the investigation, and we'll probably need video footage from cameras around the area. I have some of that from my initial investigations, but since I wasn't focussed on Lucas before I will most likely be missing information."

Susie sat back in her chair, her face crinkling in concentration. She suddenly sat up, grabbing her phone again. '_What about Nina? She would have the skills to get the information, and she could probably manage to get it without anyone noticing.'_

Maura nodded slowly, realising Susie's suggestion had merit. "You're right, she would be perfect. Are you friends with her?"

Susie's face fell, answering Maura's question wordlessly. "Me neither. I suppose we'll just have to appeal to her sense of justice and hope that she believes us."

Susie gave Maura a disbelieving look, which made Maura smile a little. Susie had become a lot more sarcastic over the last few years, again filling a hole that Jane had left in her life. It had taken a while, but they had developed a quirky set of in-jokes that would baffle any outside observer. Once Susie relaxed around Maura and started treating her like a person instead of a mentor and hero, their contented companionship had become a great source of comfort for Maura, keeping her from falling back into her melancholic and isolationist ways.

Susie had also become far more comfortable with telling Maura when she was being ridiculous. She was correct about Nina; they would definitely need a better argument as to why she should help them investigate a fellow detective than 'he's a bad man, because we said so'.

The two sat in silence for several minutes, both unable to think of any convincing facts that they could use to win Nina's trust and cooperation. Simply asking would most likely be met with refusal, since to the outside world Detective Lucas was a good detective who had just managed to find and recover one of their missing people. Nobody was likely to believe that he had manipulated Jane, injured Maura and Susie, and most likely contributed to Jane's disappearance in the first place.

They also had the disadvantage of Frankie's involvement. He would be able to corroborate the story of the insane woman attacking them, since he had actually seen Jane in a violent state earlier that day and probably had the bruises on his neck to prove it. Whether he was involved in hurting Jane or not, he would definitely be a hindrance to any story Maura told that was different to the official story.

Maura shifted slightly, wincing as her shoulder protested angrily. The conversation with Susie had distracted her from the pain, but the silence was allowing the pain to return to the forefront of her attention. She squirmed in the bed, trying to find a comfortable position, and her eyes fell onto Susie's phone.

Maura gasped as she realised she'd forgotten one of her planned actions for the morning. "Susie, I need your phone for a moment."

Dialling quickly, Maura hoped that she wasn't too late. Fortunately Angela picked up after the third ring with an uncertain greeting.

Maura realised she probably didn't recognise Susie's number. "Angela, it's Maura."

Before she could get another word out, Angela was off and racing. "Maura! Where have you been! Have you heard, one of the detectives found Janie! She's here! She's alive! You were right, she's alive! Where are you? You need to get to the station, she's here!"

Maura impatiently waited for a gap in the torrent of words. "Angela! I know, I saw her yesterday. She was actually at my house."

Angela's reply was loud and outraged. "You knew? How could you not tell me! I only found out a few hours ago! You knew yesterday? How…"

Maura knew she needed to jump in before Angela hung up on her. "I'm at the hospital!"

There was dead silence at the other end of the phone. Maura couldn't be sure that Angela was still on the line until her voice exploded out of the speaker once again. "Hospital? Why didn't anyone call me? What happened?"

Maura was relieved to hear concern in Angela's voice. "I was shot yesterday, that's why I couldn't contact you. I'm okay, there shouldn't be any permanent damage, but I lost a lot of blood at the time and passed out. When I woke up in the hospital I didn't have my phone."

There was rustling on the other end of the line. "Maura, I'm going to come and make sure you're okay. Where are you?"

Maura felt a moment of panic. "No! I'm okay, Susie is with me. I would much prefer for you to stay with Jane and make sure she's alright."

Angela sighed, the indecision evident in her voice. "I think she's okay, she's still in with the detectives being interviewed. I haven't even seen her yet. Frankie called me a couple of hours ago, but I haven't seen him either."

Maura tensed, her gaze finding Susie's worried eyes. "So you don't know if she's okay? You don't know who she's with?"

Angela sounded worried now. "No, I don't. Maura, I need to go. I'll call you later."

The line went dead. Maura frowned at the phone, wondering what to do now. She didn't trust anyone at the station except Angela to look after Jane's best interests right now, and if she was being kept away from Jane, it didn't bode well for Jane's well-being.

Susie grabbed the phone urgently, clearly having heard both sides of the conversation since Angela had been practically yelling. '_I need to get to the station. I can try to make sure Jane isn't left alone with Lucas or Frankie. Hopefully I can get Mrs Rizzoli to help.'_

Maura hesitated, considering their options, before nodding. "Make sure you don't antagonise anyone. I don't want you getting hurt. Hopefully as soon as Angela talks to Jane she'll realise she isn't acting like her old self, and she'll believe us. But don't let her get involved in our investigation of Lucas. We just need her to keep Jane safe."

Susie nodded, grabbing her phone and running out the door.

Maura couldn't help but slump back in the bed. Without Susie around, she didn't need to keep up her façade any longer. She was exhausted, mentally and physically.

The situation was just so unfair. For four years, she had hoped to find Jane, alive and well. She had reconfigured her life to compensate for Jane's absence and struggled along, but she knew that if Jane ever came back she would be better. Just by her presence, Jane had always made her better.

The reality was far different than she had imagined. Instead of relief and joy, Jane's return had brought pain, confusion and uncertainty.

Maura's exasperation and frustration let the exhaustion press down on her, crushing and suffocating her like the concrete wall that had torn Jane from her. Maura was powerless to stop her mind from reliving that day, the sound of shrieking metal combined with her own desperate screams as vivid now as they were four years ago.

Her shoulder was throbbing sharply, a reminder that stress and movement inhibited the healing process. She resolutely dragged her mind away from the painful memories, breathing slowly to relax her tense muscles. She was only partially successful.

Maura sighed in resignation. If she was going to be any good to Jane, she would need to heal.

Pushing the nurse call button, Maura finally conceded that she needed some pain medication. She would ask for the lowest possible dose, which would hopefully allow her to sleep until Susie came back, or until she heard from Angela.

It took less than a minute after the medication was administered for her to sink into an uneasy sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Hi all!

Here is the next instalment! I hope everyone is still enjoying the story, please let me know if there is anything that jumps out, either awesome or awful!

Thanks as always to my very patient Beta JaneyGWF, she's definitely on the awesome side of things!

* * *

Maura stirred slowly. As she rose towards consciousness she identified the lingering sensations of pain medication again, but they were less pronounced than her last awakening. Before she had regained enough awareness to open her eyes, she became aware of a weight pressing down on her hand.

Suddenly wide awake and panicked that Lucas or Jane was back, Maura yanked her hand away, her shoulder protesting the sudden movement. Her blurry eyes couldn't immediately identify the figure in the room, and she instinctively tried to sit up in the bed and pull away. As her breathing accelerated and her heart pounded, she recognised a familiar stressed voice.

"Maura, calm down, it's Angela! You're okay! Stop thrashing sweetie, you'll hurt yourself!"

A gentle hand pressed on her good shoulder, directing her body back to the bed. Maura clenched her eyes shut, using all her willpower to arrest her body's fear response and calm down. It was a surprisingly difficult task, which indicated to Maura that she had been traumatised more than she realised by the events of the past few days.

After several long minutes, Maura managed to calm her breathing and unclench her hands. As she loosened her grip on the rails at the side of the bed, she realised that Angela had been gently clasping her hand and running a soothing hand over her hair, whispering words of encouragement and safety. The words hadn't been audible over the roar of blood in her ears, but now the sound was comforting and appreciated.

Angela smiled widely when Maura finally opened her eyes, the relief evident on her face as Maura slowly relaxed. "Maura, are you okay? You look terrified!"

Maura nodded stiffly, her muscles still tense. "I'm sorry, Angela. It isn't you."

Angela made a dismissive noise as she shuffled closer, putting a warm hand on Maura's cheek to wipe away the few errant tears that had escaped without Maura's knowledge. "I know. Don't apologise. They told me that you were attacked in your own house. I can understand being a bit jumpy after that."

Jumpy was a gross understatement of how Maura felt, but she chose not to try to correct Angela. Instead she continued to concentrate on her breathing as she tried to assemble her scattered thoughts into some kind of order. "What time is it?"

Angela pulled back to a less threatening distance. "It's around ten in the morning. You've been asleep for almost a day."

Maura tensed again, her hand shooting out to grip Angela's urgently. "A day? Who is with Jane? Is she still at the station?"

Angela winced slightly at the strength of Maura's grip before smiling reassuringly. "She's okay. She's with Frankie. Don't worry, I made sure she was safe before I left her."

Maura's stomach churned, her hand losing all strength. She had no idea how to tell Angela that Frankie might have had something to do with Jane disappearing in the first place, and that she might have just given Jane back into the care of her captors.

Angela frowned, seeing the colour drain from Maura's face. "Honey are you alright? You look pale, do you need to see the doctor?"

Maura swallowed thickly, considering her options. "No, I'm okay. I think I'm just hungry."

Angela brightened immediately. "I can fix that. I brought you a salad and a lasagne, I wasn't sure what you'd be in the mood for."

Angela gestured to a bag sitting on the shelf next to the bed. As Maura followed her gesture she realised Angela had also somehow found and brought her phone.

She thought quickly, realising she needed a moment alone. "Would you be able to get me some juice? I think it would be better for my stomach."

As expected, Angela jumped up, bustling out quickly. Maura wasted no time in grabbing her phone, smiling as she saw it had enough battery left for a phone call. She found Susie's number and dialled.

Susie answered after three rings. "_Maura? Are you okay?_"

Maura was relieved to hear Susie's voice. It sounded less pained, which meant the break in her jaw was minor enough that the swelling must have already started to diminish. "Yes, I just woke up. Angela is here. Do you know where Jane is?"

_"__She's at her old apartment. It was great that you bought it and kept it vacant; it gave her somewhere to go that was familiar. Frankie took her there yesterday night and stayed the night, along with Angela. She mentioned to me yesterday that she planned to go and see you this morning, so I'm sitting out the front to make sure he doesn't take her anywhere."_

Maura sighed in relief, her tense body relaxing onto the bed. "Thank you Susie. I was so worried when I saw Angela was here."

_"__I know, I almost panicked when she said she was leaving Jane alone with Frankie. But I'm fairly sure she hasn't been left alone with Detective Lucas since she got to the station. He took her there straight after they were at the hospital with us, then she was debriefed all night and well into the day. Lieutenant Cavanaugh only let her go home around two in the afternoon yesterday."_

Maura considered the timeline. "Do you know what story Lucas gave as to where Jane has been this whole time? They must have seriously questioned his story to have kept her there for that long."

Maura could hear exasperation in Susie's voice. _"He went with amnesia. The story was that Jane woke up in a hospital in New York with no idea who she was and no idea how she'd gotten there. She blamed a serious head injury that took a few months to recover from. Then she claimed she found an apartment and has been working in various jobs to get by ever since. Detective Lucas claims he saw a picture of her on a Facebook page, a picture which was somehow deleted since then, and went to New York to find her a few months ago. He claims he found her a month ago, but she didn't believe him, and he stayed to try to make her remember. She supposedly suddenly remembered her name and the general details about who she was three days ago, which is when he brought her back to Boston."_

Maura rolled her eyes at the absurdity of the fabrication. Amnesia was far more complex a condition than depicted in the movies, and rarely resulted in such a conveniently specific memory loss. She wasn't surprised that the story had been scrutinised so carefully by Jane's superiors. "Does she claim to remember who everyone is?"

Susie sighed again. _"No. She claims to remember how to do her job, but no details about the people here. That includes her family. I had managed to get here and sit with Angela by the time Jane was released from questioning. She pretended not to know who Angela was. I think it really upset Angela. She also didn't react to Frankie from what I've been told. She didn't seem to recognise him, or try to kill him."_

Maura filed that change in Jane's behaviour away for later. "Did Lucas notice that you were at the station? Where is he now?"

Susie sounded smug. "_He really didn't think this through. He's been reprimanded for disappearing without permission or notice to go and look for Jane. I think he expected to be treated like a hero for finding her, instead he might be looking at a suspension. Apparently there were a lot of resources wasted searching for him, and Lieutenant Cavanaugh isn't happy. I haven't seen him since the hospital, and I'm pretty sure he's not thinking about either of us at the moment. I think he was sent home about two hours after Jane was released."_

Maura smiled at the news that they weren't in immediate danger from Lucas, although she worried that his anger at how he was being treated could cause problems later. Her assessment of his low intelligence appeared to be correct, given how inept his attempt to cover up Jane's whereabouts had been. "That's good to hear. I'll send Angela back to Jane soon so you can go home and get some rest. Thanks again for looking out for Jane."

Maura could hear the smile in Susie's voice. _"You aren't alone in this Maura. We all care what happens to Jane. You don't have to be the only one trying to help. I know it felt like you were the only one that kept hoping, but we're all thrilled that she's alive. We'll figure this all out in time."_

Maura could hear the reproach buried in Susie's light tone. "I know, and I promise I'll wait to be released from the hospital this time. I trust you to look after things."

Maura heard the distinctive sounds of Angela Rizzoli returning to her room, chatting with nurses on the way. "I have to go, I'll text you when Angela leaves."

She ended the call just as Angela entered. The relieved smile was back on Angela's face at seeing Maura. She handed over the bottles of juice and settled back in her chair, starting to dig through the bag for the food she'd brought.

Maura took a sip of the orange juice Angela had brought, surprised to realise how hungry she actually was. "Thanks for getting this for me, I'm feeling better already."

The smile on Angela's face widened. "You actually look better too, you've got a bit more colour. Did the doctors say how long you've got to stay for?"

Maura vaguely remembered a doctor visiting before Susie had come in the previous morning, but despite having no idea what they'd discussed, she knew enough about her own injuries to be able to give an accurate estimate. "I believe I'll be able to be released in two days' time. They will want to ensure I don't encounter any complications with an infection in the wound, and they will also need to ensure that I have recovered from the blood loss. After that I should be in for a relatively simple recovery, since the bullet went cleanly through without severing any nerves or hitting any bones."

Angela's smile had fallen dramatically at the mention of Maura's injury. "I'm so sorry I couldn't be here for you sooner. It must have been so awful getting shot, and by the man who should have been there helping you too."

Maura couldn't help shifting uneasily at the reference to Lucas. "What did they tell you about how I was injured? Honestly it's all a bit fuzzy."

Angela finally found the salad she'd been digging for and set it out as she talked. "Well I was told a few things by a few different people. Lieutenant Cavanaugh told me that some woman broke into your house and was attacking you, but you managed to call Susie at the station. Detective Lucas had just gotten back with Jane, and they came with Susie to help. Susie got hit across the face and fell when they got to your house, and somehow in the scuffle Detective Lucas shot at the woman and hit you instead. After that the woman got away. They haven't managed to track her down yet honey. I'm sorry, but you'll be safe here."

Maura suppressed a grimace as she remembered how safe she'd felt during Jane's last visit. "I guess that sounds right."

Angela looked troubled as Maura started eating, carefully shuffling closer to the tray without jostling her shoulder. "Maura, I also talked to Frankie. He said you'd called him over earlier that morning, and that the woman was already there. He said she attacked him, and you wouldn't listen to him when he tried to convince you that she was dangerous."

Maura froze mid-chew, worried about what else Frankie may have said. Her worries were justified when Angela continued in a worried tone. "Honey, he said you thought the woman was Jane. You know that wasn't Jane, right? Jane came to help save you from that woman, she would never hurt Frankie."

Maura swallowed with a gulp, thinking quickly to avoid a direct lie. "I'm not exactly sure what happened with Frankie. I suppose I could have been mistaken about something. The important thing is that Jane is back."

Angela's face lit up with a smile again, but Maura was surprised to see it fail to reach her eyes. "She is back. I was so happy to see my girl alive, I could hardly stay on my feet. I don't think I've ever cried so hard in my life."

Maura couldn't resist prodding when Angela stopped. "So how did she seem?"

Angela sighed, her eyes meeting Maura's knowingly. "Not like herself. I know she has amnesia and all that, but….I don't know. She didn't seem like the old Jane at all. She was being so polite to everyone, and she was so quiet, not talking unless someone asked her a question. And when I charged in for a hug, she hugged me back, in front of everyone. She didn't squirm, or groan, she just hugged me. Jane's never voluntarily hugged me when there were people that could see since she was about three. And even after we took her home, she kept asking about Detective Lucas. I know he found her, but the way she seemed fixated on him just seemed….off."

Maura couldn't hide the relief she felt at hearing that Angela hadn't bought the reprogrammed personality that Jane seemed to have after Lucas' orders. "I didn't think she seemed herself either. I'm worried about her. I don't think we should leave her alone until we understand what's going on."

Angela nodded seriously. "I agree. She's with Frankie right now, and I'm going to go back there as soon as you're done with lunch and I've called someone else to come sit with you."

Maura was just finishing the salad and felt too full to start on the lasagne. "I'm really fine, Angela. I'd much rather you go and be with Jane. She needs familiar faces if she has any chance of recovering her memories, and you'll make sure she's safe as well."

Angela's face turned hopeful. "And you'll be out of here soon, and you can see her too. Maybe she just needs to spend some time with her best friend. I don't think she could ever forget you."

It was a concerted effort to hide her reaction, managing only a small gasp. Maura flashed back over the past few days, between the bald, scarred Jane who had shown how much she still cared, and the robotic obedient Jane who didn't hesitate to harm her. If Maura had to see Jane again before she knew what was wrong, she had no idea how either of them would respond, however she now knew her instinctive reaction to the thought of seeing Jane was fear.

Angela didn't notice Maura's gasp and looked thoughtful for a moment, before she stood and started packing up. "If you're sure, then I will go now."

She pulled a cooler out of her bag, presumably containing more food, and placed it on the table. "Now you just call me if you need anything. I can't thank you enough for everything you've tried to do for Jane. Between making sure she still has her apartment to all the time you've spent looking for her over the years, she couldn't ask for a more loyal friend."

Maura stiffened involuntarily as Angela leaned in for a hug, which made her stop and opt to squeeze her hand instead. Maura smiled apologetically, and waved as Angela turned and walked out.

As she relaxed and appreciated the silence in the room, Maura wondered if she should have tried to tell Angela about her worries concerning Frankie. If Angela thought he could be trusted, she might leave Jane alone with him, and that could be potentially disastrous if he was in fact working for her abductors, or with Lucas.

However, there was no argument she could think of to convince Angela that her son would ever hurt her daughter, at least not with the complete lack of evidence she currently had.

Unless they discovered some hard proof, Susie would need to continue to supervise Frankie's visits with Jane from afar. Unless Lucas made a move, they didn't have much choice. Once she was out of hospital, she would be able to assist. Maura sighed in consternation, tired at the thought of how difficult Frankie's involvement would make things. The sooner they found a way to get some real answers, the better.

Maura decided to check her work emails, since she'd been out of action for a few days and hadn't been particularly attentive during the week leading up to her injury. There were several sets of lab results, requests for reviews of cases, meeting requests and lots of miscellaneous things for her to attend to. With a sigh, she opened the first email and started reading.

Around an hour later, her arm was too tired to keep holding the phone. Placing it on her table, she stretched her arm carefully, noting that her shoulder was less sore than it had been when she first woke up.

As she lay back on the pillows, considering taking another nap, she heard footsteps approaching her door. Her body tensed as she saw the face of her visitor.

Her attempt to keep her tone light failed miserably, and her voice came out in an alarmed squeak.

"Frankie?"


	12. Chapter 12

Hi all!

Welcome to the next update! It's a short one, I know, but it just worked out that way.

Thanks to my incredible beta JaneyGWF for making time to look this over in the middle of her busy day!

Let me know what you think! Feedback is always greatly appreciated!

* * *

Maura's mind felt frozen in panic as she watched Frankie walk to the chair next to her bed and sit down. He was looking at her with a puzzled expression. She realised her hands were twisting the bed sheet in fear and consciously relaxed her hands, trying unsuccessfully to school her expression into a natural smile. Instead, she could feel her eyebrows furrowing, her eyes narrowing and her mouth clenching into a thin grimace.

Frankie held her gaze for a few moments before he shuffled uncomfortably and dropped his eyes to his hands. "Look, I know that you might be angry with me. I'm really sorry you and Susie got hurt. I should have done more."

Maura's mouth fell open in surprise. She had been expecting more threats, or a request to keep out of Jane's life, not an apology.

A burst of outrage overpowered her fear. "Sorry? After everything you've done, you tell me you're sorry? What about your sister, did you apologise to her?"

Frankie looked confused, and replied defensively. "What do you mean? She's home, she's safe, she's back with her family! It sucks that it took this long, but she's okay now!"

Maura sat up, ignoring the pain in her shoulder. "Safe? She's not safe while Detective Lucas is anywhere near her!"

Frankie's expression darkened. "Well we agree on that. That creep won't get anywhere near Jane if I can help it."

Maura paused. He had sounded entirely sincere about disliking Lucas, but she was still wary of Frankie. It was entirely possible that he and Lucas could be working together and still not get along. She wasn't sure whether she should bluntly accuse him of being a part of the organisation that had hurt Jane, or if she should continue to skirt the issue until she had a chance to investigate Frankie's possible involvement. She wanted to trust him, but the cost of being wrong was potentially too high.

Frankie seemed to grow restless with the break in conversation. "So, I should thank you again for keeping Jane's place. I think she appreciated having somewhere familiar to go. Ma and I have been taking turns staying with her, trying to help her remember things."

With a barely suppressed eye roll, Maura replied in a cynical tone. "Ah, yes, the amnesia. How convenient. She just happens to forget who she is until it's a useful time to bring her back."

Frankie shrugged helplessly. "I don't think anyone really believed it to begin with, but what else could it be? Cavanaugh had Jane in that room for hours, and her story didn't change. She told me she had amnesia, and as ridiculous as it sounds, I can only trust her. If there is some other story, she'll tell me when she can."

Maura looked at him disbelievingly and scoffed. "So you're just going to go along with this?"

Frankie stood up, his temper clearly getting the better of him as his voice increased in volume. "What else am I supposed to do Maura? She's been gone for four years! She vanished! You know that better than anyone, you looked everywhere! But now she's back, and she needs us to help her get back on her feet!"

Maura was almost yelling now too. "So tell me Frankie, what was it that made you suddenly give up on her? Why were you trying so hard to get me to stop? If you cared so much about her, why did you stop looking?"

Frankie threw his hands up in frustration. "She was gone! It had been months, we'd tried everything! Ma was out of her mind with stress, you were falling apart, I wasn't much better than either of you! Tommy seemed to have the right idea, he'd accepted that she was gone and he'd managed to start living his life again! That's all I wanted, to get you to stop being obsessed with a pointless search and dragging us down with you!"

Maura was about to reply when Frankie stepped closer and waved his hands near her face, making her flinch back reflexively. "Okay, enough. We've had this argument too many times over the years Maura. You were right, she was alive, but the way you were going about looking wasn't healthy. And to be blunt, you didn't find her. Someone else got her home. So we need to move past this and focus on helping Jane."

Maura bristled immediately but decided to bite her tongue. Nothing Frankie had said had convinced her of his innocence, and she didn't want to give away her plans or intentions. "Fine."

Frankie sighed, walking away to calm down. He turned back to Maura, clearly fighting to stay civil. "Ma and I are going to keep staying with her. We're not letting Lucas anywhere near her, I don't care how much she asks for him. Once you're out of here it would be great if you'd go see her."

Maura suppressed the involuntary shiver at the thought of seeing Jane again. "Fine."

Frankie frowned at Maura, his expression showing that he had heard her defiance. Despite their differences, he still knew her well. "Maura, I don't want you doing anything stupid. Leave Lucas alone. Don't get involved. Cavanaugh has people looking into their story, and they'll work out what really happened if it's any different to what we've been told."

Maura fought the urge to cross her arms petulantly. "Fine."

The Rizzoli eye roll was no less than she'd expected. "Really, Maura? Okay, fine, you're not going to let this go. You're too damn stubborn. Just please promise me you'll tell me if you find anything. Don't get yourself into a dangerous situation without backup. Let me help you."

He stared at her for a few long moments, waiting for an answer. Instead Maura just stared back, rebelliousness clear in her rigid posture.

With a resigned sigh Frankie started towards the door, before spinning at the last moment. "And by the way, Susie doesn't count as backup. Please don't get her hurt again either."

Maura let out a harried breath as he strode out of the room, relieved that the confrontation hadn't escalated out of control. As she flopped back onto the bed her hands were shaking, either from barely suppressed rage or fear. Or a combination of both.

Maura had never been good at reading people, and this was a situation where lives depended on her assessing Frankie's motives correctly. If he was involved in Jane's disappearance, the conversation they'd just had could be interpreted as a threat against her and Susie if they tried to investigate. His request to be kept informed was exactly what Maura would expect of a double agent trying to keep informed of a threat to his operation. If he knew what Jane had been turned into, he knew how Lucas had used her to threaten and torture Maura, and had thrown that in her face when he asked her to come and visit.

However, if Frankie was innocent, the same comments would be as she expected from a concerned brother and friend. He would be worried about her and Susie getting hurt if they antagonised Lucas. He would want to help find out the truth and protect them. He would want Maura to help his sister regain her memories. He would feel guilty that he had left a dangerous woman in Maura's house who had later injured both her and Susie.

Maura huffed in frustration. There was no easy answer here until she had more information. There was no reason to commit to either conclusion at present, she would simply exclude Frankie from any knowledge of her activities. She knew he would notice and question her reticence to be around him or Jane, but there was presently no alternative.

Unbidden, an errant thought rose to the front of her mind. What would Jane do?

Maura had no idea. She had never been able to understand how Jane made the logical leaps she did, allowing her to know who to believe and which leads to follow. It didn't seem logical to Maura's disciplined mind. There wasn't a repeatable pattern to the so called 'gut instincts'. There wasn't a formula that Maura could establish and use. It was simply something Jane could do, and she could not.

Suddenly buried in a surge of loneliness and sadness, Maura fervently wished that Jane, her Jane, was here to help save herself.


	13. Chapter 13

Hi All!

Welcome to the latest instalment! I know some of you have been fretting that there are no solid answers yet, I promise they are coming!

Special thanks to JaneyGWF for her beta-ing skills this chapter, I was a lot more tired than I thought when I wrote this chapter, which required a lot of overtime on her part to sort through!

Enjoy! Please review!

* * *

Maura was immeasurably relieved when the day finally came to leave the hospital. She was still tired, her body siphoning much of her energy into healing, but thankfully she was off the heavy pain medications and there were no signs of infection or any other complications. Angela insisted on picking her up and driving her home, which Maura greatly appreciated.

The journey to Maura's house felt awkward to the wounded doctor, as Angela tried to fill the silence with irrelevant small talk and she responded with monosyllabic replies. Angela had visited her every day that she'd been in hospital, but her manner had become noticeably colder since Frankie's visit. Maura suspected that Frankie had conveyed the gist of the conversation to his mother, and she had naturally been affronted that Maura could imply any guilt on Frankie's part. To Angela's credit she hadn't taken sides, but the new distance between them was still painful.

As she crossed the threshold, Maura couldn't help looking furtively around the room, expecting to see some sign of the confrontation that had taken place. However, someone had gone to a lot of effort to remove all traces of the violent encounter. The site where she fell after being shot had obviously been vigorously cleaned. The room had been tidied. Maura tried not to speculate whether it had been done by a friend trying to make her homecoming easier, or by someone with more sinister motives for removing all evidence.

Angela got Maura comfortably situated on the couch before moving to the kitchen to make them both lunch. Maura listened to the clattering of pots, smiling at the familiar sound, before letting her head drift back tiredly. Fatigue was dragging at her, with the trip from the hospital taking more out of her meagre reserves than she'd hoped it would.

Closing her eyes briefly, she thought about the last couple of days. She'd had very little to concentrate on besides healing, so had taken every opportunity to rest and recuperate. Her only links to the outside world had been Angela's brief visits and Susie's texts. Susie had been keeping up her covert surveillance of Jane and Frankie, with nothing unusual or suspicious yet. Lucas didn't seem to have gotten anywhere near Jane, which was a huge relief to Maura and Susie.

Maura suddenly snapped back to consciousness, not realising she'd drifted off until she felt Angela's hand shaking her awake. "Angela, sorry. Was I asleep long?"

Angela just smiled knowingly. "No, maybe half an hour. I didn't want your soup to get cold. If you like I can take you to your bedroom after you're done with lunch?"

Maura looked at the offered soup, and smiled at the sight of the homemade vegetable mix. "No, I need to try to get my sleep cycle back to normal. If you can just put a movie on for me and bring me some of my journals to read, I'll be fine."

Nodding, Angela moved back to the kitchen and started cleaning up. Maura savoured the soup, having missed real food while she was in hospital. After the first batch of lasagne and salad, Angela hadn't had time to bring more. Frankie had caught a big case at work, so Angela had needed to spend more time with Jane. She hadn't told Maura much about their interactions, but the impression she'd gleaned was that Jane still wasn't acting like herself, and she hadn't claimed to remember anything else.

Finishing the last drops of soup, Maura looked up to see Angela already hovering, ready to snatch the bowl. After a bit more clanking, Angela bustled around the room, retrieving books and stacking them carefully on Maura's good side.

Heading for the movie collection, Angela paused to glance over her shoulder. "So, what sort of movie would you like? Action, thriller, science fiction?"

Maura realised her life had contained too much of all those genres lately. "Actually, I changed my mind about the movie. I'll just read."

Angela nodded, her eyes sweeping over the little nest she had made for Maura on the couch, complete with blankets, drinks, books and healthy snacks. "Do you need anything else before I go sweetie?"

Maura shook her head gratefully. "I'll be fine. You've done so much for me. I don't just mean today, you've been looking after me so well since I got shot, and for a long time before that. Please, go look after your family."

Angela smiled warmly, moving over to carefully hug Maura. "You're my family too, you know that."

Maura smiled in relief and happiness, her good hand returning the hug with enthusiasm. After she had noticed the icy distance appearing between them, she hadn't been entirely sure if Angela still felt that way. To hear the words spoken with such sincerity meant a lot.

Angela took a deep breath, and Maura heard frustration and anguish in her voice as she spoke softly. "Janie was always the child who caused me the most worry. If I ever got a phone call in the middle of the night, I would assume it was someone telling me she was hurt, or worse."

Angela pulled back so she could look Maura in the eye. "You seem to be determined to take her title lately. Please, do an old mother's heart some good, and stop ending up in the hospital? It would break so many hearts if anything happened to you, mine most of all."

Maura felt the prickle of happy tears in her eyes as Angela pulled her in for another loving hug. She felt a gentle kiss on the top of her head as Angela got up to leave. Maura considered that possibly what she had interpreted as an air of indifference from Angela was actually a mother pulling back in grief and pain after her child had scared her by getting injured again.

Angela paused at the door to yell back some last minute instructions, breaking the sentimental mood. "You call me if you need anything, understand? Stay out of trouble!"

Maura nodded with an amused smile. She definitely felt like one of Angela's kids when she was being coddled and nagged.

As she had been bereft of academic stimulation, Maura decided it was an excellent time to catch up on her favourite scientific journals. She had been unable to concentrate on anything serious for almost a week before the anniversary of Jane's disappearance, and since Jane had turned up on her doorstep all her stimulation had been without facts and answers. A few hours of logical and peer-reviewed science was just what she needed.

Maura had been reading for around two hours when her phone buzzed, alerting her to a new text message. Carefully putting the journal she was reading down, she discovered the message was from Susie.

_Angela is back with Jane. Are you at home? I need to talk to you about a few things._

Maura quickly sent back an affirmative reply. Fortunately Susie had her own key to Maura's house, so Maura wouldn't have to move off the couch and jostle her arm. Susie had demanded a key after the fifth time she'd almost broken down the door, checking if Maura was alive after a non-appearance at work. Maura suppressed another sigh at the direction her life had taken over the past four years, but reminded herself that at least she still had friends who cared. She hadn't burned all her bridges yet, and hopefully she would never again reach the same lows she had experienced.

Settling back into the couch, Maura readied herself for the coming conversation. Now that she was out of the hospital, she couldn't stay on the side-lines anymore. She needed to do something to help Jane, and since she would still be limited physically for some time her contribution would need to be investigative.

Fortunately it didn't take Susie long to arrive. Maura heard the tumblers in her door locks turning, then the familiar brisk steps of her friend. Susie looked better physically than the last time Maura had seen her, with the swelling and bruising on her face well on its way to healing, but the criminologist looked ragged and worn out.

Maura patted the couch next to her, pulling her book out of the way. Susie sat down with an air of exhaustion and defeat, her body instantly sagging back into the soft cushions.

Maura frowned at the uncharacteristic behaviour. "Susie, what's happened? What's wrong?"

Susie let out a sad sigh, before turning a regretful gaze on Maura. "I suspect Lucas has been busy. I've been suspended from work, pending an investigation."

Maura had to restrain her impulse to jump up and yell, managing to moderate her response to an outraged exclamation. "What? On what grounds? And who suspended you, I'm your boss!"

Susie winced. "You've been removed from your post too. Since you'll be off for a few weeks at least with your injury, the governor was persuaded to appoint an interim Chief Medical Examiner, a Doctor Peterson."

Maura frowned. "I've never heard of him. Where is he from?"

Susie shrugged sadly. "I don't know. I tried to find out, but I was escorted out of the building about an hour after he started, so I didn't have time to find anything."

Maura carefully reached out to grab Susie's knee, trying to snap her out of the melancholy she seemed to be stuck in. "Susie, why have you been suspended?"

That got a bit of the fire back in Susie's eyes. "For inappropriate use of work facilities during non-working hours. Basically for using the lab to run the tests on Jane's samples. I couldn't really explain why I was running the tests, and they didn't buy my story about creating and testing a new filing system. So, I'm suspended indefinitely."

Maura's eyes flashed with anger. "I agree that this is most likely Lucas' doing. Nobody else would know or care that you were in the lab."

The pair sat in thoughtful silence for a few moments before Maura continued. "I'm worried by the implications of this. Lucas doesn't seem to be intelligent enough to pull the kinds of strings needed to orchestrate this by himself. He must have some support from a high level official in the governor's office. Possibly more than one. Not to mention this Doctor Peterson."

Susie nodded miserably, obviously having come to the same conclusion herself. "I've been keeping an eye on Jane and Frankie for the last couple of days. I haven't managed to find out anything new. I haven't seen Lucas. I don't know what's going on at the precinct. I have no new information whatsoever."

Somehow Susie managed to slump even further into the couch. "I'm sorry Maura. I don't know what else to do."

Maura cautiously shifted closer to Susie, managing to grab her hand and squeeze it tight enough to make the young scientist's eyes snap up in surprise. Maura's voice was stern and sure as she responded to Susie's despair. "Listen to me. We aren't beaten yet. We still have options. They, whoever they are, are trying to demoralise us and cut us off. We might not have samples or a lab, and we might not have access to people through official channels, but that doesn't mean we're helpless. Understand?"

Susie nodded while doing an impersonation of a deer in the headlights of an oncoming truck. Maura hadn't spoken so authoritatively to Susie in quite some time, and she seemed galvanised by the certainty coming from the damaged woman.

Maura nodded back assertively, ensuring Susie was hearing her before she continued. "Now, I still have some contacts that we can use to look into Lucas, but it would be better if we could get Nina on our side. She's inside the BPD and can get access to their records without drawing attention. We just have to find a way to talk to her without looking suspicious."

Susie sat up straighter, finally coming out of her funk. "I know where she gets coffee. She always goes to this place about a block from BPD. Apparently they have a special flavour that the café refuses to carry. We can accidentally bump into her there!"

Maura felt a genuine smile spread over her face. "See, you do have new information!"

Susie grinned excitedly, pleased to be able to help.

The pair finally relaxed, the prospect of an actual plan lightening the tension considerably and allowing them to catch up. Maura explained her condition, outlining the expected timeline for her recovery and adding the hope that she would be up and around with only a sling within two days. Susie looked relieved to be getting some backup, although they both knew Maura wouldn't be up for any heavy physical activity for a few weeks. At least, not if she wanted her shoulder to heal properly, unlike the previous old injury to her leg from the building collapse.

Susie left after a few hours, with Maura insisting she go home and rest since Angela was still with Jane. They agreed to meet again the following day to discuss how they could get Nina to believe them. In the meantime Maura would contact her resources and get as much information as she could.

Maura had just decided to try moving off the couch to heat up some dinner when she heard a knock on her front door. She felt a moment of panic, since she wasn't expecting to see anyone for the rest of the day.

Carefully pulling herself upright and ignoring the twinge in her shoulder, Maura considered her options. She quickly readied a text to Susie, letting her know someone was at the house, before moving to the door. "Who is it?"

Maura sighed in relief when she heard a familiar voice. "It's Angela sweetie. Sorry to make you get up, can you open the door for us?"

Maura was already turning the door handle when she heard the last word. Us?

She had to swallow a frightened yelp when she saw who was on her doorstep. Angela was standing on the threshold, her arms full of frozen food containers. As she bustled past, Maura was left frozen in fear as she looked at her other guest, who was holding more food and staring back at her disinterestedly.

Jane.

Jane was here.

On her doorstep.

Expecting to be invited in.

Maura felt herself start to panic.


	14. Chapter 14

Hi All!

This one took a lot of editing and discussion, so special thanks to JaneyGWF for her beta services!

Please let us know what you think! Enjoy!

* * *

Maura could feel a panic attack coming on and focussed on trying to calm her breathing. A pain in her hand made her realise that she was still gripping the door, the sharp corner of the wood digging into her skin. She couldn't tear her eyes away from Jane, who was still looking at her without a flicker of recognition. Maura was completely frozen, her breathing still accelerating without her permission.

Abruptly Angela's demanding voice cut through the tense moment from the kitchen. "Jane, bring that food in here!"

Jane's eyes flicked towards the interior of the house, freeing Maura from the stunned state she was in. Numbly Maura moved out of Jane's path as she entered the house and walked towards the kitchen. Maura took a few moments to compose herself, her anxiety lessening slightly as she realised Jane hadn't seemed aggressive, or even as if she knew who Maura was. She knew it was unlikely that Jane would hurt her in front of her mother, so she didn't have any reason for fear. No logical reason. Her subconscious seemed determined to protest that conclusion however, with her hands starting to shake and her breath still coming in shallow gasps.

To give herself a moment, Maura glanced at her phone. She hadn't actually sent the text she had typed out to Susie, and she quickly decided she didn't need backup. Susie needed to rest, not baby sit her boss. Maura deleted the message, determined that she could do this alone.

Bolstered by her mental pep talk, Maura finally closed the door, took a deep breath and followed her guests into the kitchen. Angela was rearranging her freezer contents to fit all the food containers they had brought, and Jane was standing next to her dutifully passing items when they were requested. Maura felt another spike of fear when Jane glanced at her, and knew that her instinctive reaction would take some time to pass, if ever.

However, being no stranger to fear, Maura resolved not to let it rule her actions. Putting on an air of normalcy, she sat down on one of her kitchen stools and patiently waited for Angela to finish packing the freezer, taking the opportunity to look at Jane properly.

As far as she could see, Jane looked exactly the same as Maura remembered. There were no new lines on her face, her hair was the same length, there were no new scars or blemishes. It was as if she was a moving version of a photo from four years ago. With a frown, Maura noticed that there were also no scars on Jane's hands. Apparently her existing scars had been covered up as well as the new scars from her captivity. Jane was wearing a skirt and dress shirt with heels, which all seemed completely out of character. Maura couldn't remember exactly what Jane had been wearing at the hospital, but she suspected it may have been something similar. She filed away all the odd observations for later dissection and returned her attention to the situation at hand.

Angela got the last container into the freezer with a shove, quickly closing the door before anything could fall back out. "There! Okay sweetie, you should be set for the week for food. I knew you'd have trouble cooking for a while. Did you guys catch up a bit?"

Maura looked at Jane, who was frowning at Angela's question. Angela saw the look and huffed impatiently. "Really you two! I thought you'd be more excited to see each other!"

Jane looked back at Maura, her expression confused. "I'm sorry, I don't know who this is."

Maura gasped. The blatant lie had caught her off guard. Even if Jane was claiming amnesia to explain her absence, everyone knew they had seen each other since Jane's return when Lucas came to her house. She was desperately trying to ignore the deep hurt she was feeling at the notion that Jane didn't remember her.

Angela looked confused as well. "Jane, this is Maura. You came here with Detective Lucas to help her, remember? She was your best friend."

Jane glanced between the two women, still not showing any signs of recognition. She looked back at Maura and gave her a tentative smile. "Maura. I apologise, I'm still having issues with my memory. It's nice to meet you."

Maura could only continue to gape as Jane stuck out her right hand and shook Maura's free hand. Angela was still frowning and glancing between them, her face a combination of confusion and frustration.

Maura decided to try a few experiments. Adopting a casual tone, she walked to her fridge. "Would either of you care for a drink? Jane, I have some beer if you would like some?"

Jane shook her head and answered politely. "I don't really like beer, but thank you for the offer. I'll just have some water."

Maura felt a pang, remembering the ecstatic reaction the bald, silent Jane had shown to the taste of beer. She glanced questioningly at Angela, who sported a knowing expression as she nodded at Maura. It seemed as if Angela had noticed the changes in Jane's behaviour as well, but she would have even less idea than Maura as to the cause.

Angela grabbed a glass, filling it with water and handing it brusquely to Jane. "Why don't you two go sit on the couch and catch up? I'll heat up something for you to eat Maura."

Maura nodded, noticing that Jane had grabbed the glass with her right hand. She retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge for herself and followed Jane to the couch.

Jane had seated herself at the end of the couch not occupied by a pile of journals and was carefully moving things out of the way to give Maura room to sit at the opposite end. Maura just stood and watched Jane's movements. Her assertive mannerisms had disappeared, with her movements being more feminine and reserved. She was sitting perched on the edge of the couch, her knees primly together and her ankles crossed. When she finished clearing Maura a seat, she didn't flop back into her own seat and relax. Instead, she took a ladylike sip of her water, returned it gently to the table and then folded her hands across her lap, patiently waiting for Maura to sit.

Maura realised she had been caught staring and quickly moved to sit down. She relaxed back into the couch, her eyes still scrutinising the stranger sitting across from her. She may look like Jane, her voice may sound superficially like Jane, but her personality was clearly not the one Maura remembered and loved. Maura realised she wasn't scared of Jane anymore in this setting. She was acting more like a caricature of a secretary than a potential torturer. There was the possibility that this persona was an act, but unconsciously Maura had already started to relax in response to the lack of threatening actions from Jane. Maura realised it was too distressing to think of this person as Jane anymore, despite what she looked like, and decided to call her not-Jane in her head for now.

After a few moments of silence, not-Jane decided to speak, her polite tone grating on Maura's nerves. "So my mother mentioned we used to be friends?"

Maura glanced at the woman in question, realising that Angela was listening in to their conversation as she cooked. "We were certainly friends. We worked together, we did various activities together outside of work, we talked a lot about various subjects."

Not-Jane nodded, as if they were discussing the weather. "And what is your job?"

Maura took another sip of water, carefully considering her answer since she was still trying to map out the supposed gaps in not-Jane's memory. "Has anybody told you about your own job?"

Not-Jane nodded and continued cheerfully. "I was a homicide detective. I remember investigating murders and catching bad guys, but unfortunately I don't remember any of the people I worked with. However, I still remember all the skills I need to do the job."

Maura couldn't resist rolling her eyes. Not-Jane's response couldn't have sounded more rehearsed if she tried. It was obvious that the specific gaps in not-Jane's memory had been created in a way that would allow her to return to work in a timely manner. It seemed likely that her convenient memory loss was intended to excuse her behaviour around the people she was supposed to know, so that when she acted completely out of character they would chalk it up to amnesia rather than something more sinister.

Remembering not-Jane's question, Maura decided to answer factually. "Well we worked together closely. I am the Chief Medical Examiner. I perform autopsies on the bodies and analyse the forensic evidence, your team investigates the murders."

Not-Jane nodded again. "And why were we friends?"

That question threw Maura for a moment. Nobody had ever bluntly asked why she was friends with Jane, it had always just been true. As she considered the question, she realised there was one card she hadn't played yet.

Clearing her throat, she glanced at Angela, who appeared to be concentrating on the cooking, before commencing her story. "I can't speak for both sides, but I'll try to explain my side, alright?"

Not-Jane nodded politely. Maura continued, her voice soft and reserved. "I come from a fairly unique background. I was an adopted only child, raised by wealthy parents with obligations all over the world. I was well educated, taught to value propriety, manners and appearances. I have above average intelligence and below average social skills, which gives me a tendency to know a lot of facts and have little idea of when it was appropriate to share them. This combination of things made me very odd by society's standards."

Maura sighed, closing her eyes to concentrate, and to avoid having to look at not-Jane's blank expression. "Since I was a young child, my nature and upbringing compelled me to strive for perfection. I was encouraged to always appear happy, to succeed in every endeavour, and to never show weakness. As a child I would rarely tell anyone if I had a problem:; I would attempt to solve it myself with logic and reason. I would always do the sensible thing, which ensured that I never needed help from anyone. Later in life I cultivated a persona of professional competence in the work place, and due to my insatiable need to know things I tended to never think of myself as 'off the clock'. My distant practical persona became my only persona."

Maura frowned slightly, coming to the more painful part of the explanation. "While this manner of living made perfect logical sense, it created a social dilemma. Because I seemed so impenetrable, so self-assured, my parents maintained a distant relationship with me, thinking that I preferred to be left alone. Any friends I made never became particularly close, possibly because they were intimidated, but more likely because they felt that I was too difficult to get close to. Or that any attempt to connect emotionally would be unwelcome.

"I only started to understand the reasons behind my isolation much later. You see, many different sources emphasise that it's a great thing to be unique, clever, emotionally strong, beautiful and motivated, but they don't mention that the cost of being all those things is loneliness. That is something one realises with experience."

Maura's breath caught momentarily as she remembered some of the many times she had learned that painful lesson. She battled on past the growing lump in her throat, her emotions growing more turbulent as she continued. "At the time, I could never understand what I'd done wrong to make everyone keep their distance from me. I tried to be the best daughter I could, but my parents only pulled away further. Whenever I tried to befriend someone, it always felt like I was being tolerated rather than accepted. It was an impression that had been reinforced in every relationship I'd experienced. From a young age, if I ever found myself wanting to be closer to someone, I would attempt to find a way to deepen the relationship, only to quickly convince myself that my efforts would be found invasive and unwelcome. I would abandon the attempt and accept that I just didn't fit in anywhere, and I needed to learn to enjoy being alone as it was to be my lot in life."

Maura sighed again, her voice growing thicker aunder the weight of bittersweet memories. "Then I met Jane Rizzoli. She was loud, brusque, inappropriate, rough, uncouth, everything I had always been taught not to be. Our first meeting didn't go well, and by all logical reasoning we should never have connected as friends."

Maura had to pause to brush away a tear, smiling shakily as she continued. "But Jane somehow saw me. It was as if every other person I'd ever met had seen nothing but imaginary obstacles around me that prevented all access, but somehow Jane had known they were all illusions and walked straight past them. She saw that, despite all my academic and career success, I was desperately lonely and needed a real friend. She involved herself in my life, and got me involved in hers. She didn't hold herself carefully away, respecting some fictitious personal boundaries that I don't remember creating. She settled in next to me and got comfortable. And her acceptance somehow showed others that I wasn't so unapproachable. I started to make other friends, and feel like a part of something. She was like a gateway into the life I didn't realise I'd been missing, but once I had experienced it I knew I never wanted to go back to the way I used to be."

Maura swallowed, determined to finish. "The tragic part about losing her was that I hadn't taken her friendship for granted. I knew exactly how much Jane meant to me. I knew I wouldn't be the same without her. But just because I knew what I had didn't make it any easier to lose it. I tried to make other connections and let people in, but I never felt like anyone understood me the same way that she did. I started feeling tolerated again, rather than wanted. It's not anyone else's fault, they all try their best, but nothing can compare with the friendship I once had."

Maura opened her watery eyes, looking at not-Jane to see her reaction. Not-Jane simply nodded yet again, the dispassionate motion almost breaking Maura's heart. "Alright, thank you for explaining."

Not-Jane seemed to be finished with the conversation. Maura felt devastated at her lack of reaction. When the bald, silent Jane had first come to her, it had been instances where Maura had been in pain that had brought the real Jane back to the surface. Not-Jane's reaction to Maura's emotional explanation indicated that the real Jane was gone.

Maura, feeling desperate, decided to try one last line of questioning. "Jane, do you remember coming to this house with Detective Lucas?"

Not-Jane looked around the room appraisingly. "No."

Maura frowned. "Do you remember visiting me at the hospital?"

Not-Jane looked at Maura, scrutinising her face as if comparing it to a mental mug-shot. "No."

As not-Jane returned to staring at her water glass, Maura glanced at Angela to see her frowning at her daughter in confusion, her eyes red as if she'd been crying. Maura realised she must have heard her story, but was too emotionally drained to mind.

Maura mentally shook herself. Revealing so many of her deepest feelings had been difficult, but it had achieved the goal of exhausting the last trigger Maura knew about to bring the real Jane's personality out of not-Jane. Since it seemed that the real Jane was gone, or at least buried too deep for her to reach, she needed to focus on finding a way to get her back.

From Angela's reaction and the information she'd previously gleaned, not-Jane's memories weren't lining up with the official story. Maura didn't believe not-Jane was lying, as far as she knew. It seemed as if Lucas had in fact changed not-Jane's memories since their encounter in the hospital.

The implications were worrying. Maura had originally assumed that Lucas had been following some kind of plan when he brought Jane back, but the evidence indicated a lack of planning and forethought in everything to do with not-Jane. This was why Maura tried not to assume. The story about Jane's absence was full of holes, not-Jane's memories weren't agreeing with their story, her mannerisms and personality were obviously wrong, and she didn't seem to be under his direct control. A plan would indicate that Jane's abduction and return had a purpose, but the current situation indicated a lack of forethought and improvising, which could quickly become dangerous.

The only thing that indicated any semblance of a plan was her and Susie's suspensions from work. It was possible that even if something had gone wrong at Lucas' level, the upper ranks of the mysterious conspiracy may still be functioning. This could also be dangerous. If someone in a high position decided that Jane, or not-Jane, was a security risk, she and anyone she'd talked to would become targets.

Angela finally made her way over from the kitchen, holding a steaming plate of something. Pretending not to see the distress on Maura's face, she spoke in a light tone. "Maura, here's your dinner. I think it's time we got out of your way. Jane, can you please wash up your glass?"

Not-Jane dutifully made her way to the kitchen. Angela quickly sat down next to Maura and spoke in a harried tone, her concern for Maura now evident. "Maura, you heard her, that's not Janie! I don't know what to do, I was hoping that seeing you might snap her out of it, but now I have no ideas! You have to help her!"

Maura nodded earnestly. "I know. I don't have a plan yet, but I know she's not herself. Can you just keep making sure Detective Lucas isn't alone with her?"

Angela looked determined as she nodded. "Got it. You think he's done something to her?"

Maura thought about skirting the question, but decided to go with as much truth as she could. "I do. I'm trying to look into it, but I'm not sure who to trust besides you and Susie. I think we need to protect Jane from everyone else until we figure out how to proceed. As you may have heard, we've both been banned from entering the BPD, but we're working on another idea."

Angela looked forlorn, then started to bristle. "I can hardly believe this is happening. If I ever see that slimy…."

Maura leaned forward and cut her off. "Angela, you can't let on to Lucas that you suspect anything. You need to stay safe, and that means not provoking him or making him see you as a threat."

Angela considered for a moment before answering. "That means you too missy. You're too much like Janie. You'll throw yourself into danger to protect everyone else. Promise you'll be careful?"

Not-Jane picked that moment to return from the kitchen. Angela glanced at her and quickly stood up, giving Maura's hand a squeeze, accompanied by a pointedly stern glare, before dragging her daughter towards the door. "Give me a call if you need anything Maura!"

Her tone had been light, but Maura had heard the underlying tension. Angela had been dealing with not-Jane for days now with no answers, and the strain that it was putting on the woman was starting to show.

Maura slowly ate her dinner, determined not to let her emotions drag her into a depressed state, and thought through her interactions with Jane. It was obvious that her friend was absent from her own body. It had been like talking to a complete stranger. One who was a shell of a human being. All the spark, the personality, the attitude, the drive, was gone. Not-Jane was someone that Maura would never bother to get to know. There was no substance, nothing of interest, nothing intriguing. She was boring.

The whole encounter had actually been quite anticlimactic. At least in the privacy of her own mind, Maura could admit that she'd imagined lots of what-if scenarios for how her first meeting with the new Jane could have gone. She had imagined not-Jane kidnapping her and taking her to have her memory erased, she had imagined not-Jane leading a squad of commandos to kill her, she had imagined Lucas torturing her while not-Jane watched and laughed. She had also imagined her words somehow reaching Jane, seeing the familiar smirk as Jane punched Lucas in the face, seeing Jane lead him off in handcuffs as the whole BPD watched. The reality was unfortunately more confounding, and bleak, and disappointing.

However, meeting not-Jane had made Maura more determined than ever to fix this. She fervently believed, completely illogically and with no supporting evidence, that the real Jane was still buried under the programmed not-Jane somewhere. There was no other acceptable truth. She would meet up with Susie, they would somehow convince Nina to help them and they would find a way to get her Jane back.


	15. Chapter 15

Hi all!

The disclaimer for this chapter: I'm so running on empty at the moment, so I apologise for any mistakes. There's only so much a beta can do, but JaneyGWF has hopefully worked wonders and saved me from myself! Thanks as always!

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

By the time morning arrived Maura was too frustrated to wait for Susie at her house. She texted her instead, instructing her to meet at the coffee shop so they could wait for Nina to hopefully turn up. Maura didn't want to miss her if she went for coffee before her work day started.

After Angela and Jane left the previous evening, Maura had started reaching out to her contacts. There were only a few still available to her, as she had burned a few bridges when the leads started to dry up and she became desperate. None of her contacts had any new information immediately available, but they had promised to look into Detective Lucas. Maura wasn't counting on them finding anything, since none of her sources were within the police department, but any information could be useful. She had given up a little after midnight, admitting that she needed rest if she was going to have any chance at functioning the next day. When her alarm rudely woke her at six, she discovered that none of her attempts to reach out had borne fruit, leading to her agitated need to find out something. Anything.

Maura arrived as the shop was being opened. She ordered a juice, being wary of caffeine since she was still on a few medications following her injury. Once she got her order she found a table that had a clear view of both entries to the store and settled in to wait.

Regular customers started filing in, most of them barely awake. Maura vaguely recognised one or two, and suspected they may be employees of BPD that she had passed in the corridors. One woman gave her a friendly wave, which she returned uncertainly, not recognising the woman at all.

After around twenty minutes Susie arrived, her eyes flying around the shop before they found Maura. The frazzled woman relaxed and walked over to the table, sitting in the unoccupied chair.

The pair smiled at each other and exchanged greetings before Susie got up to get herself a coffee. As she stood in line, Maura continued to watch the other customers.

Suddenly she tensed as Nina walked in. The analyst didn't seem to be in a hurry, she simply joined the line and pulled out her phone, tapping casually on the screen as she waited.

Maura wasn't quite sure how to proceed. It would probably be impolite to go and stand next to her in line, but then again staking out someone's favourite coffee shop in order to ambush them was already somewhat impolite.

Fortunately Susie had seen Nina as well and spared Maura from having to decide on a course of action. Using a move Maura suspected Susie had seen in a movie, the criminologist artfully managed to 'accidentally' trip over Nina, spilling her coffee all over herself and landing in a tangled heap at Nina's feet.

Repressing a laugh, Maura jumped up and ran to help Susie. Nina had already dropped to her knee, and was trying to help Susie brush the hot coffee off her shirt while spouting apologies. Maura grabbed the dropped coffee cup and Susie's glasses, allowing Nina to help Susie up.

Nina's expression was embarrassed and horrified as she looked Susie over. "I'm so sorry Susie, I wasn't paying attention. Are you alright?"

Susie nodded, still pulling herself together. Maura was fairly certain she wasn't injured, but she put a guiding hand on her arm anyway. "Susie, come and sit down. I'll get you another coffee in a moment."

Nina grabbed Susie's cup out of Maura's hand, looking at the order scribbled on the side. "I'll get it. Take her to sit down, I'll bring it over."

Maura obeyed, leading Susie to the chair and guiding her down. Once she was sure Nina was out of earshot, she whispered excitedly in Susie's ear. "That was brilliant! I had no idea how we were going to approach her!"

Susie went slightly red. "It was only partially on purpose. I spun around and she was right there, and I almost dropped my coffee, which gave me the idea, and I just sort of…exaggerated it."

Maura was torn between concern and amusement. "Are you actually alright?"

Susie nodded, absently brushing more liquid off her shirt. "I think I might go home and change after this."

Maura couldn't help laughing, which is when Nina bustled back to the table, holding two coffees and a bag of pastries. "I'm so sorry Susie. Here's a coffee, and I got some bear claws and some doughnuts, they are really nice here."

Susie smiled at the poor woman. "I'm really fine. Thanks for the refill! Why don't you sit down for a minute?"

Nina glanced at her watch, considering for a moment before she grabbed the nearest chair and sat down, her body language indicating that she was slightly uncomfortable. "I'm actually early, so why not?"

Maura smiled at her appreciatively, before the smile fell as she realised it was her turn to come through. "So, Nina, how are things in BRIC?"

Nina nodded hesitantly, thinking carefully before answering. "Things have been pretty calm lately, apart from our two missing detectives turning up. I know you guys know all about that though, how is the shoulder Dr Isles?"

Maura's hand instinctively moved towards her injured shoulder, her arm still in a sling. "It's starting to heal nicely. I've managed to rest it fairly well, so I don't anticipate any complications in my recovery."

Nina nodded politely, before glancing at Susie, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Susie, is it true that you're suspended?"

Susie froze mid-sip, her eyes going wide. "Uh, yes, that is true. I'm hoping it won't be long, there was just a miscommunication."

Nina nodded again, her eyes moving between the two suspiciously. "Well, it was nice seeing you guys, but I need to get to work."

Maura surprised all of them when her hand shot out and gripped Nina's arm. "Wait, please. We need your help."

Susie rolled her eyes at Maura's lack of tact. Nina sat back in her seat, her face impassive. "I thought you two were acting weird."

Maura pulled her hand back, her expression apologetic. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to deceive you. We just didn't quite know how to ask."

Nina scrutinised Maura's face carefully before taking a slow sip of her coffee. "Explain. Fast."

Maura nodded gratefully. "It's to do with Jane. We think Detective Lucas had something to do with her initial disappearance, and that they are both lying about where she was. We also think something was done to make her behave differently. She isn't acting anything like the old Jane. We need your help to look into Detective Lucas' movements, both recently and around the time Jane disappeared, to see if we can figure out what happened."

Nina's eyes seemed to be boring through Maura as she spoke. She didn't move for several seconds after she finished, her finger tapping rapidly on the side of her cup the only sign of her agitation.

She slowly sat forward in her chair, her voice low and serious. "You're asking me to look into one of our own guys. Do you at least have some solid evidence?"

Maura and Susie looked at each other doubtfully. Nina took that as all the answer she needed. "Look, guys, I would like to help you out, but you need to look at this from my perspective. Susie, you're suspended for misuse of department facilities. I may not know the details, but I know it had something to do with Detective Lucas. Doctor Isles, you are off on medical leave for the fourth time in as many years. The previous three times have all had some sort of mental health aspect, and the rumour going around is that you were hallucinating that a drug addict was Detective Rizzoli, and you got yourself shot because you got in between her and Lucas when he came to help you guys. If two people with those credentials were asking for your help, what would you think?"

Susie started to sputter out an indignant response, but Maura put a restraining hand on her arm before answering Nina's blunt statements. "I understand how this must look. I would honestly have trouble believing it if I was in your shoes. But I can only appeal to your sense of logic. Please look at Detective Lucas' story, independent of anything we've told you. See if what he says happened with Jane is even possible, much less plausible. You used to know her. Talk to her and see if she is still the same person you remember. If you really look at the facts here, I have no doubt you'll see there is something amiss."

Nina studied Maura for several long moments before getting up. "I'll think about it. I'll keep my eyes open. But I'll be honest, I don't think it's a good idea to stick my neck out on this one. Jane's finally back. Unless I see something to convince me that she's in trouble, I think she should be left alone and allowed to return to her life as best she can."

With a parting look of finality, Nina turned and walked out. Maura and Susie slumped dejectedly in their chairs, knowing their best chance had walked out with her.

The pair sat glumly for a few minutes before admitting defeat and leaving. Susie decided to go home to change before meeting Maura at her house. As futile as it would probably prove, the duo decided to go over the evidence from Jane's initial disappearance, on the off chance that they noticed something new with the tiny pieces of extra information they had gleaned.

Around four in the afternoon, both were ready to concede defeat. There was no sign of Detective Lucas or Frankie in any of the incomplete footage they had access to, and no records to clarify what either of them had been doing on the day of Jane's disappearance. Maura was fairly sure that Frankie hadn't been involved officially in the incident, but her memories of the events were somewhat fuzzy, a result of the injuries she had sustained.

As the dejected women packed up the files, Maura's phone rang unexpectedly. To her surprise, she recognised Nina's number in BRIC. She quickly answered, trying and failing to keep the desperate hope out of her voice. "Doctor Isles."

"_Hi Doctor Isles, it's Nina here from BRIC. I have a couple of things from one of your recent cases I needed to clarify. Detective Lucas came by today and asked me to track down some details for a report. Since you're not in at the moment, would you mind if I brought the file to your house to look over?"_

Maura was momentarily confused, since Detective Lucas didn't have any involvement in her recent cases, but then realised Nina might be speaking in code for the benefit of someone listening in. "Oh, that will be fine Nina. I'm home now, so come by whenever you like."

"_Thanks Doctor Isles, I'll be by shortly."_

Maura heard the line go dead and looked at Susie hopefully. "It was Nina. She's coming over to bring a file to discuss. She mentioned Detective Lucas, so this might mean that she believes us!"

Susie knocked over a pile of files as she excitedly squeaked, jumping over to hug Maura. After the pair finished celebrating, Susie bustled around tidying the scattered materials while Maura put on some coffee and tea for the three of them.

Around half an hour later, there was a firm knock on the door. Maura rushed over to let a serious looking Nina in. Nina was holding a bundle of files protectively, her eyes flitting over the interior of the house nervously.

Nina followed Maura to sit on the couch, joined quickly by Susie bearing a tray of mugs. Nina was looking at the piles of evidence around them, realising just how much effort had already been expended on this mission.

Grabbing a mug and taking a sip, Nina finally lowered the files onto her lap and started to speak, her voice conveying her conviction. "So, as you probably gathered, I'm in."

Twin smiles appeared on Maura and Susie's faces instantly. Maura couldn't help a sigh of relief as she responded. "Thank you, you have no idea how good that is to hear. What changed your mind?"

Nina couldn't quite hide a smirk. "Well, Detective Lucas came by today. He was asking for help with a case, I actually didn't make that up. But the case he was asking about wasn't his, it was one of Jane's cases from years ago. It was an unsolved murder, a doctor that had disappeared and then been found dead almost a year later. Jane only got that case about a month before she disappeared. When I looked into it I realised it had been assigned to Lucas, but he hadn't made any progress since Jane disappeared."

Maura exchanged a knowing look with Susie. "I remember that case. The doctor was found dumped in a park. I determined he'd died from an overdose of a very unusual cocktail of drugs, which we didn't manage to trace. I never chased up the resolution of the case, I was too distracted after Jane disappeared."

Nina nodded. "I think that was the idea. When I looked into the file, it was obvious that Lucas had been pretending to keep investigating, but he was really just trying to bury the case and make sure it stayed unsolved. He had progress reports that were copied and pasted from older reports, any leads that he supposedly followed didn't have updated information, and he outright falsified one report that claimed he asked me to run financials on the doctor's colleagues at his practice. I'd never even heard of this case before today, when he asked me to run the checks he said I'd already run years ago."

Maura frowned. "So does any of this help us? Is it anything to do with Jane?"

Nina shook her head. "No, that was just the first thing that put him on my radar. The next thing that happened was what convinced me that you guys were right. Frankie decided to bring Jane into work to try to jog her memory."

Nina rolled her eyes before continuing. "You should have seen all the jaws drop when she walked into the bullpen. Firstly, I've never seen Jane Rizzoli wear a skirt and high heels unless she was undercover. Secondly, she actually smiled at Detective Crowe. I don't care how bad her amnesia is, nobody could smile at that guy without a lobotomy."

Maura and Susie cringed and nodded in agreement. Crowe had become even more of an ignorant pig since Lucas had joined the team, the two of them feeding off each other's bad influence.

Nina suppressed a shiver before concluding her story. "But, the thing that clinched it was when Jane came over to talk to me. Frankie introduced me, then had to leave Jane for a minute while he checked on one of his cases. We got to talking, and then Jane noticed my phone. She gushed, seriously giggled, about how pretty the cover was, and asked me if I'd do her phone up the same."

Nina was met with two confused looks. "Okay, sorry. Several years ago, right after I first joined BPD, Jane stuck her foot epically far down her throat when she made fun of phones with bling, not realising I had a taste for bedazzling things myself. I didn't know much about her at that point, but I could definitely tell she'd rather use a shoe phone than let rhinestones anywhere near her cell. That sort of hatred doesn't go away with memory loss, it's built in."

Maura and Susie nodded in understanding, smiling in amusement as they imagined Jane's reaction to a bright pink shiny phone. Maura's face soon fell as she remembered how different not-Jane was from the woman they had known. "Nina, I'm really glad you're going to help us. As you can probably see, we're stuck."

Nina grinned as she glanced around again. "Yeah, I see you've exhausted a lot of leads though. But then again, you didn't have access to this."

She opened the file on her lap. "I traced Detective Lucas' movements on the day Jane disappeared. He clocked in at 8:14 in the morning, then left BPD at 9:20. He was supposed to be looking into a lead on one of his cases, but I managed to get footage from a few traffic cameras around the city. Because of the disaster that day, the footage was all obtainable, since it had all been collected as part of the investigation. As you know, the incident has become a cold case, so the footage was all sealed. I managed to get access, don't ask how, and followed his car all the way from BPD to the industrial district. I lost it there, since there aren't any cameras, but I found him coming back out two hours later."

Nina paused, knowing the next part might be hard to hear. "He then went straight to the site of the incident. He pulled up outside the building, got something out of his car, and then went inside. He came out about twenty minutes later, got something else from his car, then went back in for another twenty minutes. This was about three hours before you guys got there."

Susie's brow furrowed in confusion, but Maura got it straight away. Her voice was cold and angry. "It was him. He placed the bombs in the building. He caused the collapse. He dropped a building on Jane, and me, deliberately."


	16. Chapter 16

Hi all!

Welcome to the latest instalment! I hope you enjoy it, hopefully it might clear up a little bit of confusion!

Thanks as always to JaneyGWF for her beta services!

* * *

All three women were stunned at the sound of a coffee mug shattering loudly against the wall. Maura and Nina stared at Susie, astounded at the outburst from the usually reserved woman. The young scientist simply glared at the wall for a moment, her expression furious, before she moved to the kitchen to get a cloth.

Nina gaped at Maura questioningly, to which Maura could only shrug. She had no idea that Susie was so upset about the situation, but it seemed that there were hidden depths of strong emotion being concealed beneath Susie's quiet exterior.

The two were still frozen in shock when Susie returned and started cleaning up the broken shards, talking agitatedly as she worked. "We need to figure out where he went in the industrial district. He probably wouldn't have bombs in his car when he was at BPD, so it stands to reason he would have gotten them from someone when he went there."

Susie's business-like tone snapped Nina out of her stunned stupor. She shuffled through her files, pulling out two maps and putting them side by side on the table. "I lost him going into the district at this intersection, and found him again coming through this one. The route he took into the district was circuitous, like he was trying to avoid being followed, but once he came back out he went straight to his destination."

Nina pulled out a third map with a red line drawn along one of the roads. "That puts the place he was coming from somewhere on this road. There is a six block section along this road with no cameras. He could also have come from one of the streets that feed into this main street. It's too much ground to cover, we need more information to narrow it down."

Susie had finished cleaning up the spilt coffee and pieces of the smashed mug, depositing the remains in the kitchen before returning to the couch and looking over Nina's maps. Maura was still staring at her in amazement, unable to believe the strength of her friend's feelings. She knew Susie had been unfailingly loyal to her and wanted to help Jane, but she hadn't realised how angry she was.

When Susie sat next to her, Maura quietly put a hand on her arm, the gentle squeeze attempting to convey her thanks. Susie glanced over quickly, a small smile finding its way across her lips before she returned her attention to Nina. Maura allowed herself to dwell on the warm feelings Susie had brought out for a moment before also turning her attention to the matter at hand.

Nina was shuffling through more pages, oblivious to the shared moment. "I didn't find anything else about Lucas regarding that day, but I just realised something. He went to that building hours before you guys even showed up. With what we know about his connection to Jane, that says to me he knew you were going to be there."

Maura sat up a bit straighter, realising Nina was correct. "We had discussed going there the day before, at Jane's desk. There were people around in the bullpen, but it didn't even occur to me that one of them must have been involved."

Nina frowned as she pulled out a stapled pile of paper, talking as she flicked through the pages. "It looks like it occurred to Korsak. He seems to have interviewed everyone in Homicide, trying to work out how someone had known you would be there. He even checked the records and videos to see who might have been there to hear your conversation. Nobody claims to have heard you guys discussing it, and as far as I can see they all have alibis for the whole morning."

Maura flicked her eyes over the list of people, not taking long to find a likely candidate. "Crowe. He was there."

Susie snatched the list angrily, flicking over to his statement. "He has an alibi, but we all know he is friends with Lucas. He could easily have told him where you guys would be."

Nina glanced between the two fuming women uneasily. "Now don't forget, we need evidence here, not speculation. This is all circumstantial at best."

Maura sighed, running her free hand through her hair in frustration. "We don't need proof! We aren't trying to get Lucas arrested, we're trying to help Jane! I don't really care at this point whether he gets away with what he's done, as long as Jane is safe from him and back to being herself again!"

Nina was surprised, but to her credit didn't argue. "Alright, that changes things I suppose. I can look into Crowe's movements around the same time, see if he met up with Lucas at some point."

Maura nodded, suddenly tired again. It had seemed like they were making progress, but knowing that Lucas was responsible for the bombing didn't help them find out what had happened to Jane afterwards. Susie started flicking through various files, starting to look frantic and flustered.

Nina saw the dejected look on Maura's face, and decided to inject some structure into their discussion. "Okay guys, we need to clear off this table. I want to put together a timeline of everything we know, to make sure we're on the same page."

Maura's head shot up at the authoritative tone, hearing the same determination she had heard multiple times from Korsak, Frankie or Jane when they were entering focussed detective mode. Nina rose from her seat and started organising files, which got Maura moving to help. Susie stopped her fruitless search and assisted in the efforts to impose order on their scrambled case.

After around half an hour, the three had managed to assemble a rough timeline on the table. Maura and Susie stood back, giving Nina the floor to guide them through the 'case' and hopefully find some leads to finally follow.

Nina paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts, before she moved to the start of their construction of facts. "Okay. As far as we know, the first thing to happen was Jane and Maura deciding to go to the building in the bullpen on Wednesday. We have a list of people known to be in the general vicinity who could have overheard your plans. I have some following up to do there, to find out if Crowe met up with Lucas, but honestly it may be a moot point."

Nina paused, seeming to consider whether to mention something, before barrelling on. "Maura, why did you guys go to the building? The reports don't really elaborate on why you were in an empty building."

Maura sighed, wrapping her arm around her body protectively. "Do you remember the case involving an assassin, where Jane ended up saving a young girl? That building was where it happened."

Nina frowned. "I remember the case, it was my first one with BPD. But why did you guys go back there?"

Susie made a noise of dissent, shaking her head frantically, but Maura took a deep breath and explained. "It wasn't widely known, but Jane was pregnant at the time. When she was shot, or possibly when she was hit with a pipe in the stomach, she lost the baby. The loss hit us both hard, Jane obviously most of all, but we didn't really talk about it much after it happened. That Thursday was the anniversary of her losing the baby, so I suggested going back to mark the day. I thought it might help her get some closure, even though she insisted that she was fine. I knew I needed to do something to mark the day too, I didn't think I'd properly addressed my own feelings about it all. Going to the place where it happened seemed like the best way to address the issue, since Jane was terrible about talking if prompted, but there was a chance she'd talk about it if she was taking me through the events like a crime scene."

Nina nodded, obviously wishing she hadn't asked since Maura now had tears in her eyes. Susie moved to Maura's side and gave her an awkward sideways hug, which elicited a small thankful smile.

Instead of dwelling on the sad circumstances that existed even before the disaster, Nina moved on. "Right, so we have someone finding out you guys were going to be in the building at a certain time. The next day, we have Lucas leaving BPD around an hour after arriving, going somewhere in the industrial district and retrieving what we assume to be the two bombs that blew up the building, then setting those bombs. He then leaves the building and returns to BPD."

Nina grabbed a pen and scribbled some notes. "I need to see if Lucas left BPD again. If he went back to the building, or somewhere else, it could show up on a camera and give us somewhere to look."

Susie glanced at Maura before asking a difficult question. "Can you also check into what Frankie was doing that whole day? We've come across some, uh, circumstantial evidence that he might be involved."

Nina's eyebrows shot up. "Frankie? As in Frankie Rizzoli? Jane's brother?"

Susie nodded regretfully, not offering any further explanation. Nina huffed out a harrowed breath, but scribbled down the note.

Maura used the time Nina and Susie had spent speaking to regain control of her emotions. "Okay. Next we have Jane and me leaving BPD together."

Nina nodded, hearing the determined tone of Maura's voice and taking that as a cue to continue on. "You arrive at the building at around 1:30pm. At 1:45pm BPD receives a bomb threat against a building belonging to the Connelly group. Korsak knows you guys are in one of their buildings, and immediately tries to call you, but due to the lack of cell coverage in the area he can't reach either of you. He immediately leaves to get you, calling in backup at the same time.

"The backup arrives at the building at 1:53, but before they can start looking for you, the first bomb goes off. The officers hold off on entering until the bomb squad arrives three minutes later. Korsak gets there around four minutes after the bomb squad. The squad is still assessing the situation when the second bomb goes off at 2:14. The second bomb collapses the front of the building, which forces the rescue team to reconsider their entry until a structural engineer can assess the stability of the building."

Maura's had gone completely stiff, her eyes staring blankly as she remembered the last moments before the world had collapsed on her. "Jane and I were in the basement. We'd retraced her steps from the day she'd found Tasha, then taken the elevator down. She showed me the phone she'd managed to wire together to call for help. When we got to the basement, she showed me where she'd taken him by surprise. She was re-enacting the encounter when she noticed something flashing against the base of a column. I don't know how, but she knew it was a bomb."

Maura took a shuddering breath before continuing. "She grabbed me, and pushed me away, shielding me with her own body. I felt the explosion, and my head collided with something solid. That's the last thing I remember before waking up in the hospital. Jane saving me."

Susie's mouth was pressed together in a thin line, her anger obvious to see. Nina was struggling to remain impartial as well, despite not knowing Jane or Maura particularly well. Knowing they had been set up to die by one of their own was horrifying and difficult to accept.

Maura stayed silent for several agonising minutes, her residual guilt over the circumstances of her survival tormenting her as always. She had always known that Jane was protective of her, and had already thrown her own safety aside many times to save her, but when Jane had actually sacrificed herself, the guilt had almost destroyed her, and had pushed her to go past the limits of her normal endurance and sanity to try and make things right.

Maura took a deep cleansing breath, acknowledging that she would never stop feeling guilty for her part in what had happened to Jane, before determinedly shaking off the effects of the memories. "Nina, what happened next?"

Nina cleared her throat, glancing back at the notes on the table. "Right. So the structural engineer was taking ages to turn up, and Korsak was sick of waiting. He disobeyed the orders of the incident commander and went inside. He had guessed that you guys would be in the basement, so he managed to find you pretty quickly. You were under a pile of concrete and debris, near a collapsed wall. Fortunately you had avoided being hit by any big pieces, but there was a piece of metal stuck in your leg and you'd been hit by lots of smaller fragments, especially on your head and arms. You had a massive bruise forming on your head, which was most likely where you had been hit and knocked out."

Maura nodded, the injury list consistent with what she remembered. Her hand dropped unconsciously to the still tender scar left behind on her leg. She realised that the tension and prolonged period of standing up was starting to make the old wound ache, so decided to sit down while they went through the rest of the events.

Nina continued warily, watching Maura carefully in case she needed a break. "Korsak managed to dig you out and carry you up the stairs to the EMT's. If he hadn't you most likely would have bled out from the leg wound before the rescue team got to you."

Maura nodded again, remembering the doctor informing her of how much blood she'd lost. She knew she owed Korsak her life, and had never felt like she'd thanked him enough.

Nina picked up a map of the building. "Korsak wanted to go right back in and look for Jane, but by then the engineer had arrived and the rescue team had a plan to enter. They went into the basement, but couldn't find Jane. They looked everywhere that was still accessible, but eventually concluded that Jane must be under the collapsed wall and roof. They started clearing the debris, but there was so much damage that they needed to reinforce the roof and the floors above before they could continue. It took four days to completely clear the wreckage, but they still didn't find Jane."

Maura closed her eyes, remembering her own actions. "I checked myself out AMA, because I knew Jane had to be still down there. I thought I could help them figure out where she was, since I had been with her when the bomb went off. I couldn't understand where she had gone. I remembered she was behind me when the explosion occurred, so logically she should have landed on top of me or right next to me, not several meters away under a wall. I was so frantic at the time, it was days before anyone managed to make me understand that there were two separate explosions, which could have explained how Jane and I ended up in different locations."

Susie remembered how desperate and stubborn Maura had been at the time. "She didn't let the searchers stop until the entire basement was clear, and they still didn't find Jane."

Nina put down the building plan and grabbed the next file. "Eventually the investigators concluded that Jane must have gotten out somehow. Nobody could imagine her walking out and leaving Dr Isles if she was in her right mind, so the assumption was that she was injured and confused. The search was expanded to nearby hospitals, shelters, churches, anywhere that might take someone in. I remember searching through hundreds of hours of camera footage from the area, but we never found any sign of her. Eventually the investigation was called off. Jane had just disappeared."

Maura glanced around the room. "I kept searching, obviously, but nothing ever turned up. I had entertained the possibility that she had been taken, since it was the most likely explanation for how she was moved from the basement, but I could never find any motive."

Nina nodded, then opened the file in her hand. "The next event of note is the disappearance of Detective Lucas. He simply failed to turn up at BPD one morning, with no notice or clue to his location. Nobody links his disappearance to Jane's, since they didn't know each other well and there is no evidence of any connection."

Maura looked at Susie searchingly. "We suspect that Jane may have escaped from wherever she was being held around the same time."

Nina frowned, then sat down, pulling out a sheet of paper and locating a date. "I can try looking at some surveillance from the traffic cameras near the industrial district that day, to see if he went there. The team investigating his disappearance wouldn't have known to look there, so if he was on a camera somewhere they might have missed it. If he was going to the place they were keeping Jane, it might give us a way to narrow the location in the camera dead zone."

Nina scribbled a few notes on the pages, then returns to her narration. "Okay, so finally Lucas turns up with Jane, at BPD, receives a call from you guys, and comes over here."

Maura and Susie's heads snap around in unison, their expressions defiant. Susie manages to speak first. "That's not what happened. That's their story, but it's nowhere near the truth."

Nina's eyes flicked between them, realising she wasn't going to like the next part of the story.

Maura cleared her throat before cautiously starting. "Now, I realise this story is going to sound completely ridiculous. I just ask that you keep an open mind, and remember all the evidence you've seen so far."

Nina had an incredulous look on her face for the next half an hour as Maura explained everything that had happened since Jane turned up on her doorstep. Susie elaborated on the events at the lab before she had been taken by Lucas, trying to make the tale sound more plausible.

Finally the saga was finished, and two anxious women stared at Nina, waiting for a response.

Nina glanced around at all the files that Maura had gathered over years of fruitless searching. Her eyes flitted over the sling still wrapped around Maura's shoulder and Susie's discoloured face. Her eyes lost focus, her expression thoughtful.

Eventually her fingers closed around the file she had brought. "I'm going to go home. I need to get in early to start some unauthorised surveillance. I don't want Cavanaugh to catch me and start asking questions."

Maura let out a breath in relief. "So you'll still help us?"

Nina grinned, standing energetically. "Does Korsak like cat videos? Of course I'll still help! I don't think either of you is crazy enough to make up a story that nuts, it has to be true."


	17. Chapter 17

Hi all!

Apologies for the wait between chapters, I went on holidays to find inspiration and found writer's block instead!

However, here is the next instalment!

Please, please, pretty please leave a review and let me know your thoughts!

Thanks as always to JaneyGWF for her beta services, don't worry those excessively bitten nails will grow back...

* * *

Maura woke abruptly the next morning, feeling instantly impatient. Glancing at her clock, she saw it was still an hour before her alarm was due to go off, but she knew her mind was too alert to return to sleep. Instead, she got up and rushed through her morning routine, finding herself in her kitchen sipping coffee before seven. Her speed was actually quite commendable, since she was still hindered by her sling and damaged arm. Her wounds were healing, but far too slowly for her taste.

The original plan had been for Susie to pick her up around eight, and they would head over to the industrial district and surreptitiously look around. They weren't really expecting to find anything, but they both knew that sitting around waiting for Nina to come through with more information was outside the realms of possibility given their current state of anxiety.

Maura could almost taste the answers that lay just out of reach. After so many years of fruitless searching, she finally had some support, and it felt like they were getting close. All the frustration and anxiety, the pain and emotional trauma, it would all be worth it if they could find out what had happened to Jane and find a way to help her.

Maura had barely given a thought to her own situation since leaving the hospital. When Susie had told her about the new Chief Medical Examiner, her thoughts had all been concerned with how he might fit into the conspiracy surrounding Jane, not with how this affected her own career. She had been more worried about Susie's suspension than the implications of her own thinly veiled removal from office.

Nina had said enough to make Maura realise the general assumption at the station about the reason for her forced medical leave. She suspected it would be an uphill battle to be reinstated to her position, even though on the surface she was only off until her gunshot wound healed. The quiet way her successor had been appointed spoke volumes about the intent.

And yet, Maura found that she really wasn't concerned for her position. She had been nonchalant about her job for some time, years if she was honest, so the prospect of losing it all didn't have the same impact it once would have. She would miss working with Susie, but most other enjoyable aspects of the job had been eroded by her diminishing sense of purpose.

The only thought that inspired her presently was saving Jane. Maura firmly believed that Jane had done nothing to deserve the trauma she had endured, and was committed to doing everything in her power to get Jane's mind back and help her recover. Whether that meant they could be friends again, or whether everything would be completely different, it didn't matter. Maura felt she owed Jane more than she could ever express, for not only saving her life that last time and every other time, but also for everything Jane had done to enrich her life leading up to that moment. To repay that debt, she would see this through to the end no matter what it cost her.

Maura was dragged out of her thoughts by the sound of knocking. Puzzled, she cautiously made her way to the door, her face breaking out in a smile when she saw an impatient and fidgeting Susie waiting for her. Susie grinned wryly as she passed Maura. "I know, I'm early. Who can sleep?"

After a brief catch up and planning session, the two set off in Susie's car. Maura could drive despite her healing injury, but her arm started aching deeply with prolonged use, so it was better to let Susie drive while Maura scrutinised everything they passed. She still had no idea what to look for, but she was hoping she'd realise if she saw it.

The duo had just finished their first drive through the industrial district, finding nothing of interest, when Nina called. It was just before eight, so the streets had only just started to fill up with commuters.

Maura answered her phone, her excitement audible in her voice. "Nina? Any luck?"

Nina laughed before answering. "Well good morning to you too! And yes, I found something. Our person of interest was spotted travelling directly into the district, along North Avenue. He wasn't trying to be stealthy, it was a straight line from the motorway. I'm sending you the most likely locations he would have been going to."

Maura felt her phone vibrate with a received message. "Thanks Nina, we'll check it out now."

Nina's voice grew concerned. "Wait, now? Where are you guys? You were going to meet at eight, right?"

Maura glanced at Susie, who was still driving as she listened. "We're driving around the industrial district, why?"

Nina huffed. "Maura, I don't want you guys going anywhere near there without backup. Give me half an hour and I'll meet you there. Neither of you guys is a cop, you can't just go poking around."

Maura considered it for a moment. "We won't try to go inside anywhere, but we'll start driving around. Call me when you're nearby and we'll tell you where we are."

Nina sounded slightly panicked. "Maura, wait, you don't know if…"

Maura hung up on the distressed analyst, knowing neither of them was going to win the argument anyway. "Come on Susie, Nina sent us some more specific places to look."

Susie frowned, having caught the defiance present in Maura's part of the conversation, but declined to comment, instead looking at Maura expectantly, waiting for directions.

Maura eyed the suggested locations, quickly planning a route that would take them past all of them in the shortest possible time. "Head out here and go left. Don't worry, we're just going to look from the car, we'll call Nina if we actually find anything."

Fifteen minutes later the duo realised they may have found what they were looking for. They slowly drive past a run-down apartment building, clearly abandoned for years, which was unremarkable amongst the rest of the dishevelled buildings on that street. However, the state of the art surveillance cameras pointed at it seemed suspicious. Maura encouraged Susie to drive past it, hoping that nobody would see them on the cameras. They parked half a block away and quickly called Nina.

Nina sounded frantic. "Where are you guys? I'm almost to the district, give me your address and don't move!"

Maura sighed. "We're fine Nina. We think we found the place, but we're waiting for you as agreed."

After relaying the street address, Maura settled back in her seat, taking calming breaths to remain composed. Susie anxiously tapped the steering wheel, sending furtive glances around the street.

After only a few minutes, Nina's car passed along the street next to them, quickly pulling into a space. Nina jumped out, clearly annoyed, and moved to Susie's window.

Susie barely had time to get the window down before Nina started a tirade. "Don't you guys ever do that again! I thought you were going to get caught, you could have been killed! I thought we were going to wait until we had more information before doing anything crazy?"

Maura put her hand up soothingly. "Nina, calm down, please! We weren't going to do anything, we just wanted to find the place! But now that you're here, we can go in. Did you bring your service weapon and computer equipment?"

Nina rolled her eyes, her anger deflating at a speed that made Maura think she was more worried than angry. "Yes, I have everything in this backpack. Now, if we're doing this, you two are staying behind me, and if I tell you to do something, you do it. I've told Korsak where we are just in case we get into trouble, but since he's retired he can't do much in an official capacity. We need to handle this the right way."

Maura nodded as she got to her feet. "Agreed. Shall we?"

Susie wordlessly grabbed a backpack from the back seat, filled with various supplies Maura had thought might be useful. The three set off back down the street, casually approaching the suspicious building.

There was a door hanging off its hinge at the front of the building that they could use to get in easily. Nina cautiously entered first, unclipping her gun but not drawing it. They found themselves in a lobby, with a front desk and several destroyed couches. Two elevators were taped off in the corridor behind the desk, and a set of emergency stairs could be seen behind the elevators.

The three searched the room carefully. Susie started looking over the desk, Maura through the corridor to investigate the back of the building, and Nina started checking out the elevators. Nina and Susie looked up curiously when the power suddenly came on.

Maura returned first. "It doesn't look like there's anything back there. Just some office space and storage rooms, all empty. I found the electrical panel and turned on the power in case we wanted to try the elevator."

Susie stuck her head up from behind the desk, her expression frustrated. "There's nothing here. None of the papers are anything relevant, there's just lists of visitors. I'll take photos just in case."

Both turned to Nina, who was still looking at the elevator panel with a puzzled expression. "There's something off about the elevators. A building this size wouldn't need two elevators, it's only five floors of apartments. There's also a service button here that looks like it's been pushed more often than the residential floor buttons."

Maura walked into the elevators, instantly agreeing with Nina. The floor buttons were all lit up, as were the open and close buttons, but the worn service button seemed to be blacked out.

Before either could start theorising, the button suddenly lit up. Susie gave a little squeak of excitement before rushing over to the lift. "I found a secret button under the desk! Did it do anything?"

Nina rolled her eyes. "Can you two please stop pushing buttons? We're trying to be stealthy here, remember?"

Maura and Susie had the wisdom to look apologetic, but they were just too anxious to find answers to display the appropriate amount of caution.

Nina huffed in frustration. "Yes, Susie, it looks like we might be able to press this mysterious service button now."

Maura immediately reached out and pushed the button, shrugging helplessly when Nina glared at her. The doors immediately closed, and the three felt the elevator start to move down.

Susie frowned, her excitement fading in the face of sudden nervousness. "Was there supposed to be a basement?"

Nina glanced at the panel to check and then shook her head, shuffling in front of the others and drawing her weapon as the lift stopped.

The doors slid open silently, revealing what seemed like another lobby. The walls and floor were white tiles, making the room feel clinical and sterile in the bright lighting. There was nothing in the room besides a desk and several cameras, one of which was pointed at the lifts. Nina quietly stepped forward, her eyes flitting around the room quickly.

Maura and Susie stayed close behind Nina as she moved into the secret basement. They quickly discovered that the four visible doors were open and unlocked, with no discernible signs of life. The lights were on, but no sounds pervaded the space. A stale smell permeated the air, accompanied by the familiar smell of death. All three glanced at each other uneasily.

Maura noticed coloured lines on the white ceiling, and realised they were route lines similar to those used in hospitals. They only needed to figure out which colour corresponded to a particular location to be able to navigate easily. All the lines terminated at the elevators, which would make it easier to escape quickly if they needed to. She wordlessly pointed out the lines to the others, receiving a knowing nod in return.

Nina squinted at the colours, then moved more assertively, apparently choosing red to follow. They ducked through the red door, all rigidly alert for signs of danger.

They discovered a long corridor on the other side of the door, with rooms every five meters. There were glass windows that looked into each room, revealing a uniform arrangement of a metal bed and two chairs in each room. The bed had minimal padding and no sheets or blankets, instead being equipped with wrist, ankle, waist and head restraints. There was a panel of electronics in each room, next to the bed. Maura frowned, having never seen equipment like that in any hospital. Each room was equipped with two cameras, both focussed on the bed. There was an intercom next to each door. Maura also noted that every door was secured with a keypad and a heavy duty deadbolt.

The unknown purpose of the rooms made Maura even more uneasy. The restraints implied that people were being held here against their will, which hopefully meant they were in the right place. However, the implications of people being strapped to beds and recorded while some mysterious apparatus was used on them were alarming and disquieting. The silence and desertion of the facility only contributed to her apprehension, since something must have gone very wrong to prompt the abandonment of such an elaborate setup.

Around six rooms down the corridor, they discovered a room that looked very different. The door had been ripped off its hinges. Maura had thought it was missing until she realised it had been thrown through the glass into the room on the opposite side of the corridor. Some of the glass had been knocked into the corridor, littering the floor. The bed had been tipped over, the frame twisted where the restraints had been attached. The chairs had been thrown into a wall, smashed beyond repair. All three gasped when they realised there was a body lying under one of the chairs in a pool of dried blood.

Maura put a hand on Nina's arm, her expression silently requesting permission to go in. Nina glanced around furtively, obviously unhappy with the prospect, but nodded. Maura gestured for Susie to stay put before she entered the room. Susie was obviously on edge, her eyes wide and skittish as they flitted around the destroyed room.

Maura mentally tried to pull up her medical examiner persona before stepping closer to the body. Opening her bag, she pulled out a set of gloves before she moved the broken chair. Being careful to avoid jostling the body, she examined the body as she had done hundreds of others.

The deceased man was lying face down, so she examined his back first. He was wearing typical clothes one would expect from a laboratory worker. She could feel from the lividity that the body hadn't been moved. Rigour had long passed, and the body had started to decompose. Maura could see from the condition of his hand and arm that the sterile environment had preserved the body.

When it came time to turn the body, Maura couldn't suppress another shocked gasp. The man had multiple deep lacerations across the entire front of his body, including his face which had been sliced to the bone. There was also a cut across the man's voice box, which from the amount of blood was most likely the first injury. The cuts were clean and continuous, several inches long in most cases. The depth of the cuts indicated that the killer had possessed a massive amount of strength, as well as a long sharp blade. Curiously, the cuts originated from both left and right, and there were both upward and downward strokes. If this was a regular homicide, Maura would be telling the investigators to look for a very long knife, or a bayonet, or a machete. Or possibly a sword.

Without access to her lab, Maura knew she wouldn't be able to determine much more about the manner of death. She looked appraisingly around the room, noting the diagonal blood sprays. The man had definitely been killed in this room, and given the broken restraints and door, it seemed likely that whoever had been contained had broken free and attacked their captor.

Maura felt a rush of hope at the thought, followed by a surge of dread. If they were right and Jane was here, if she was right about Jane escaping rather than being set loose, then Jane was the most likely suspect in this man's death.

She looked at the injuries through the filter of her new realisation and frowned. Except for the first injury to the throat, the other injuries almost seemed panicked, with no major organs being targeted. The strength needed to cut bone was obviously present in the assailant, but they hadn't used that strength to perform a killing strike. It seemed more like a victim fighting back, rather than a planned murder.

Maura realised she was speculating, and that she was trying to rationalise the man's death in case it turned out to be Jane who had caused it. She needed more information, not speculation.

Standing up and glancing around the room once more, Maura moved back to the others and spoke softly. "He was definitely killed here, the amount of blood on the floor would have been a fatal amount to lose. I want to try and find a record of the video surveillance for the room before I conclude anything else."

Nina frowned, but kept her voice low as well. "Dr Isles, this isn't the time to hold back. I know you don't like guessing, but this isn't an official investigation. If there's something we need to know, tell us!"

Maura glanced back at the body. "The wounds indicate that the killer possessed great strength, and the murder weapon was most likely a long blade, something like a sword or long knife. The pattern of the injuries may indicate a frenzied defensive attack, rather than a premeditation."

Susie's eyes went wide. "So you think someone escaped? Jane?"

Maura sighed as she nodded. "That thought did occur to me. I don't know. I need to see the tapes."

Nina nodded, now understanding Maura's reluctance to speculate, and indicated for them to resume following her.

The corridor seemed more sinister after their gruesome discovery, the silence oppressively filling the sterile spaces. Susie was breathing shallowly next to Maura, who was having trouble keeping her own nerves contained. Nina was clenching her jaw, determinedly moving forward despite the tension evident in her tight grip on her gun.

When they finally reached the end of the corridor, they found another broken door, much heavier and more robust than the ones they had seen so far. It was torn off its hinges in a similar manner to the first, however this door had been dropped in place instead of thrown.

They found themselves in a control centre. The walls were lined with monitors, all currently blank. There were banks of control consoles, all facing a different sector of monitors. The coloured lines all converged here, suggesting that this room was the hub of the facility.

Once Nina cleared the room, they moved to examine the consoles. They quickly realised that there were splatters of blood on the controls, but there were no bodies as far as they could see. One console appeared to be the building control console, and it had a bloody handprint on a button labelled Master Lock Override. The button had been locked inside a shield that prevented inadvertent activation, but the plastic box had been smashed.

Nina immediately moved to a console labelled Records and turned it on, getting a reaction immediately. A screen asking for a password flashed in front of her, prompting her to open her bag and start pulling out gadgets.

Maura realised Nina would most likely require a significant amount of time to find the information they needed, so she moved to another console which seemed to be the surveillance main control. Nudging the mouse, she found that the screen came to life without requesting a password. Susie settled in next to her as she started browsing through the records.

Maura eventually found records grouped into Subject numbers, Room numbers and Agent numbers. The size of the files indicated that she was looking at thousands of hours of footage. Instead of randomly flicking through files, she opened the Subjects folder.

She was again confronted with a daunting number of folders. The numbers started at 100, and ended at 452. There were numbers missing, for example there were only 15 subjects that started with 3, but there were 95 that started with 1.

Maura's eyes fell on the number 314 and stopped. She remembered Lucas referring to Jane as subject 314 right before she had transformed into not-Jane. With a slightly shaking hand, she opened the folder.

Again, there were several subdirectories in the folder. Her eyes settled on one called Acquisition. With a deep breath, Maura opened the only video file in the folder.

A large screen on the wall came to life, playing a clip from a surveillance camera. There didn't appear to be audio to accompany the visual component. Maura suddenly realised she didn't need sound to understand what was happening.

She was looking at the basement where Lucas had attempted to kill them. As she watched, her hand moving to her mouth in shock, she saw the elevator arrive and Jane step out.

_Jane exited the elevator, still talking and pointing out places. Maura followed, patiently listening to Jane's story and prompting her when necessary. Jane walked over to the electrical fuse box, pointing at the switch she had flipped to save Tasha's life. Maura waited in the middle of the room, still listening, her arms hugged around herself defensively._

Susie grabbed her arm supportively, realising this would be hard to watch. "Do we really need to see this? I mean, you were there, so…."

Maura shook her head. "No, I want to see this. It might explain what happened to Jane, why we couldn't find her."

Susie nodded, clearly not thrilled, and turned back to the screen. Maura noticed Nina was also watching the screen, a download in progress from the console she was accessing. The silence that still pervaded the room was eerie in the face of the events about to be shown.

_Jane and Maura moved further into the basement. Jane was gesticulating, pointing out landmarks as she took Maura through the sequence of events. Maura was nodding, her expression pained but determined. _

_Jane suddenly tensed, her gaze fixed on the bottom of the pillar that Maura was standing next to. After little more than a moment she lunged at Maura, her arms encircling the surprised woman and lifting her off her feet, throwing them both away from the pillar. The pillar exploded in a shower of concrete, throwing the flying pair of bodies off course and towards another pillar. Maura's head collided with the concrete, her body falling to the ground limply. Jane fell on top of her, still shielding Maura from the brunt of the explosion. The camera was obscured by a cloud of dust._

Maura watched her own head strike a column with a wince, understanding now why she had trouble remembering things from that day clearly. Susie's hand tightened when she saw the blow, and Nina stood to place a hand on Maura's shoulder supportively.

_After several long seconds, the dust in the video cleared. Jane moving, coughing hard but obviously alive and conscious. She had several cuts on her back and arm, but she seemed to be okay. Once she stopped convulsively coughing, they saw Jane bend over Maura, her face panicked when she couldn't rouse her friend. She touched Maura's face, yelling in desperation when there was no response._

Maura frowned in confusion, the expression mirrored on Susie's face. "But, there's no leg injury. I had a huge chunk of metal embedded in my leg, as well as massive bruising on my arms and head. I don't understand…"

Nina spoke softly. "The video isn't over yet Maura."

Maura tensed, realising she was right.

_Jane pulled off her jacket, using it to cover Maura. She bent down and said something, squeezing Maura's arm before she stood up. From the far side of the image, a figure suddenly moved into view._

All three women gasped. Nina was the first to find her voice. "That's Lucas! He was down there with you guys!"

_Jane heard Lucas approach and spun to face him, her face confused. She spoke, her expression questioning. He responded as he moved closer, his arms held out reassuringly. Jane indicated back towards Maura, her face becoming worried again. Lucas nodded, approaching to stand next to Jane._

_As Jane turned back to Maura, bending over once again, Lucas pulled back his coat and reached for something on his belt. Jane was speaking, reaching for Maura's hand, when she suddenly stiffened. Lucas' hand came into view, holding a large hunting knife. He raised the knife, about to swing it down towards Maura._

Maura couldn't help her yell. "No! Jane!"

Nina and Susie tightened their grip, both realising there was most likely worse to come.

_Jane spun around in front of Maura, somehow keeping her body in between her unconscious friend and their assailant while regaining her feet and shoving him away. Lucas stepped away and dropped into a fighting stance, the knife pointed at Jane's heart. _

_Jane screamed angrily, her body language defensive of Maura._

Maura gasped again. "Oh, god, she's putting herself between me and him. He was after me, not her!"

_Lucas lunged forward, and Jane responded by grabbing the hand with the knife and twisting it away. Lucas used the opportunity to strike Jane's unguarded side with his free hand, making her double over and fall back. He stepped forward and slashed with the knife at her chest. She managed to twist away from the full brunt of the strike, but caught the blade directly in the face._

Maura and Susie screamed. They could see the blood dripping down Jane's face from the deep cut. Both remembered the distinctive scar on Jane's face when she had first turned up at Maura's house, and they now knew why it had been so bad. Maura was sobbing now, her emotions from the memories of that day now merging with the horror she was watching.

_Lucas pulled back to observe the damage he'd done. Jane staggered back towards Maura, blood dripping into her eyes from the rapidly bleeding wound. She wiped her face, desperately trying to clear her vision. She yelled at Lucas again, her rage clear on her face. _

_Jane's feet knocked into Maura's leg, and she bent down to check where her friend was. She whipped her head back and forth, obviously trying to figure out where Lucas had gone despite her blindness._

_Lucas smiled maliciously when he realised how helpless Jane was. He glanced around, putting the knife back in its sheath and picking up a piece of rebar that had been blown out of the destroyed pillar._

Maura whimpered as she watched him approach. "No, no, don't hurt her! No!"

_Lucas approached quietly, noting that Jane still didn't know where he was. He moved behind her, and took up position above Maura. Raising the twisted metal, he smiled victoriously. _

_Suddenly Jane lunged, throwing her body over Maura's just as he swung the rebar down. It pierced her back, the force of her leap diverting the weapon from its intended target. The metal burst through Jane's chest, the end finding its way through Maura's leg before hitting the solid floor._

All three observers screamed in rage and disbelief at the screen. Maura broke, her sobs becoming uncontrollable as Susie grabbed her in a crushing hug, her own tears flowing freely. Nina put a hand over her mouth in disbelief, tears running down her face as well. None of them could look away as the horrible vision continued.

_Lucas screamed in rage, obviously upset that Jane had gotten in the way. He let go of the bar, stepping back in disbelief. Jane coughed, her lungs obviously compromised as blood leaked out of her mouth. Her hand found Maura's face gently, and her palm affectionately caressed an unresponsive cheek. Jane's head dropped, and she lay still._


	18. Chapter 18

Hi all!

Yay, no writer's block and holidays! Enjoy the new chapter!

Thanks as always to JaneyGWF, your detail pickiness is appreciated!

Let me know any thoughts!

* * *

All three women continued to stare at the video in disbelief after they watched Jane die, the sound of sobbing breaking the silence. There was no doubt in any of their minds that the wound had been fatal.

Maura's hand drifted to her cheek, touching the place that Jane had caressed as her last act. The cheek was now saturated with tears.

_Lucas paced angrily next to Jane's body. He bent over Maura, screaming in rage, before standing upright and running his hands over his face. _

_Seeming to make a decision, he crouched over Jane's body and grabbed the rebar still protruding from her back. Using the metal as leverage, he pulled the limp body off Maura and lifted it over his shoulder. Once he had a good grip on the fallen detective, he quickly moved out of the view of the camera._

Nina frowned. "What is he doing? He took Jane's body!"

Susie nodded. "And look, Maura, your leg is cut now. But there's no debris stuck in it."

Maura looked at the image, and despite the tears clouding her vision she could make out the pool of blood starting to spread from the gash in her leg.

_Lucas re-entered the frame, no longer carrying Jane but still looking furious. He stood over Maura, taking in the injury to her leg. He glanced around the room, finding a piece of jagged metal lying on the floor. He quickly retrieved the piece, returned to Maura's side and stabbed the wound with the piece of shrapnel._

All three flinched as one, Maura's hand shooting to grab her scarred leg.

_Lucas stood over Maura again, seeming to consider his options. Instead of attacking her again, he moved to a location off the side of the frame, away from the exit. He reappeared moments later, casting a sneer towards Maura's prone body before hastily leaving._

_Seconds later, the basement shook as the second bomb detonated. The picture was again occluded by dust and debris, before the video abruptly ended._

Maura took a shuddering breath, her voice haggard from the weight of her emotions. "He didn't expect anyone to come and find me so soon after the explosion. If Korsak hadn't disobeyed orders and protocol, I would have bled out and he would have succeeded in killing me."

Susie's mouth gaped, the distressed criminalist obviously trying to find words but failing. Nina's voice cut through the silence instead. "But he failed. He messed up. He didn't manage to kill you, and we now know what he did. And we have the proof."

She walked back to the console where her download had finished, gathering her equipment. "I got everything they had on Subject 314, as well as a chunk of general stuff about the facility. I think we should go, before someone comes looking for us."

Maura wiped her face, before standing authoritatively. "No. We need to finish looking around down here. I don't want to miss anything."

Susie stood by Maura's side, nodding silently in agreement despite her obvious discomfort at the thought of staying any longer.

Nina considered for a moment before conceding. "Alright, but let's make it fast. I don't want to be here any longer than necessary."

Before they could move, Maura's phone pinged with her message notification. She frowned, not expecting anyone to be contacting her.

The message was from Angela, and Maura's breath caught as she read the words.

_Jane's gone. Lucas came and took her. I tried to stop him, but he had a Taser. I passed out, and I don't know where they went. _

Maura looked at Nina, fear all over her face. "You're right, we need to go. Lucas has Jane, he Tasered Angela and took her. They could be coming here."

Susie's eyes widened in fear, and Nina opened her mouth to answer, when they all heard a noise and froze.

They could hear someone walking through shattered glass.

All eyes snapped to the door leading to the corridor they had originally come through, remembering the glass on the floor.

Wordlessly, Nina hefted her backpack onto her shoulders and drew her gun, directing the other two under the consoles. They ducked under the desk, remaining as silent as possible while Nina took up a firing position behind another console. Maura slipped off her sling, not wanting to be encumbered by it if they had to run. Any pain caused by the added weight on her shoulder was instantly blocked by the adrenalin flooding her system as she waited breathlessly.

A figure appeared in the doorway, holding a gun and searching the room. Nina squinted, realising who it was. "Frankie?"

Frankie frowned, lowering his gun. "Nina? Hey, what are you doing down here? Where is here?"

Nina hadn't lowered her gun. "You first Rizzoli."

Frankie frowned again, his eyes flitting to the weapon. "Uh, what's with the gun?"

Maura stood cautiously, drawing Frankie's attention. "Frankie, you need to tell us why you're here. How you knew about this place."

Frankie holstered his gun, holding his hands up in surrender. "I followed Nina. I was in the bullpen, I heard her yelling into her phone about you guys doing something dangerous, so I followed her. I know you've been keeping me out of the loop for weeks now, so I didn't think you'd tell me what was going on if I asked."

Maura and Susie looked at each other doubtfully. It sounded like something Frankie would do, but they hadn't had time to find out if he was affiliated with the facility they were standing in.

Maura decided there was no time to be anything but blunt. "Frankie, I need you to explain why Jane attacked you. I need to understand why she said you hurt her."

Frankie's brow furrowed in confusion. "Jane didn't attack me, she's hardly spoken to me since I saw her at the station."

Maura huffed in irritation. "I meant at my house. She grabbed you and tried to choke you, before Lucas got to her and turned her into the shell she is now!"

Frankie rolled his eyes. "Maura, that wasn't Jane at your house. That was someone else. We've all seen Jane, she doesn't look anything like that."

Maura wordlessly turned to the surveillance console, quickly restarting the video they'd just watched. Frankie turned his eyes to the screen as Maura fast-forwarded the clip to after the first explosion.

Frankie watched open mouthed as Maura explained. "This is the day Detective Lucas attacked us. He planted two bombs in a building he knew Jane and I were going to visit, and he set them off."

On screen, Lucas entered the frame. "He then attacked me, but Jane fought him off."

Frankie flinched as the knife ran across Jane's face. "This is how she got the scar across her face. I'm sure you must remember from when she grabbed you."

Frankie nodded, his face growing more furious by the second. When Lucas stabbed Jane through the back, he yelled in rage, his hands curling into angry fists. A few rogue tears escaped his eyes, rolling unheeded down his cheeks.

Maura was scrutinising his face in surprise. "You didn't know, did you? You didn't know how she ended up here?"

Frankie turned a furious glare onto Maura. "Of course not! If I'd known I would have killed that bastard!"

He turned back to the screen, which Susie had stopped on the image of Jane draped over Maura, the rebar piercing both of them.

After a moment of thought, he turned back to Maura, his voice shaky and confused. "So, Jane looked pretty hurt in that video. How is she still alive? And why does she look like she used to?"

Nina cut in before Maura could answer. "So, to be clear, you're saying that you hadn't seen Jane from the day she disappeared until the day she tried to strangle you?"

Frankie looked hurt. "Of course not! I'd have brought her home! It was killing everyone not knowing, especially ma!"

Maura believed him. Despite the fact that there was no concrete evidence supporting the conclusion, she believed that Frankie had never, and would never, do anything to harm Jane. Glancing at Nina and Susie, it seemed as though they did too. But Maura was never one for relying on instinct alone, so she still wasn't completely sure they could trust Frankie with everything.

She sighed, remembering they were on a deadline. Maura realised that either way, they couldn't leave him behind, either to team up with Lucas or be hurt by him. "Okay, we don't have time for this now. We need to get out of here."

"It's a little late for that, Dr Isles."

Lucas emerged from the black route, standing behind not-Jane. He was holding a gun, but hadn't bothered to raise it yet. Nina instantly pushed Maura and Susie behind her, pointing her gun at not-Jane.

Maura heard Frankie's gun slip out of its holster, and was relieved to see him point it at Lucas, not at them. She gestured to Frankie, who moved closer to the trio.

Frankie frowned at not-Jane, who was wearing a blank expression. "Jane? What's going on? Why aren't you with ma?"

Lucas laughed cruelly. "She got bored of the old woman. She's with me now."

Maura's blood boiled, her tolerance at an all-time low after watching how Lucas had ruined their lives. "She's not with you! You killed her! You blew her up, sliced up her face and then stabbed her in the back!"

Lucas' eyes flicked towards the monitors. "Well, someone's been watching my greatest hits! What are you going to do about it?"

Maura reached into her bag, pulling out a stun gun. "Whatever I have to."

She fired the gun, hoping to hit Lucas, but not-Jane stepped quickly in front of the shot. The electrodes hit her torso, electricity surging through the woman as Maura pressed the trigger.

All four onlookers were shocked to see Jane's appearance flicker. As the electricity crackled, the façade of normalcy that she was wearing shorted out in patches, revealing glimpses of the scarred woman that had first returned to their lives. Everyone could only stare as the image continued to oscillate between not-Jane and the hairless, damaged woman Maura suspected was the real Jane. Frankie glanced at Maura, the realisation in his eyes showing her that he wholeheartedly believed her now.

The moment was broken when the stun gun abruptly ran out of charge. Not-Jane didn't appear bothered by what had happened, continuing to stare blankly at the four stunned people. Lucas smiled at them around her, clearly amused by Maura's failed attempt to injure him.

He turned to not-Jane, speaking in a business-like voice. "Subject 314. Assault mode activate. Incapacitate targets Chang, Holiday and Rizzoli."

His expression turned feral. "Kill target Isles. I'm sick of you not dying, doctor."

Frankie leaped into action, grabbing Susie and Maura's arms and pushing them towards the yellow path, yelling for Nina to follow. She responded by firing at Jane, aiming for her legs, before following.

Not-Jane crouched slightly, holding her arms away from her body. Maura was horrified to see the skin of her forearms split open along the back, revealing long blades laying between the radius and ulna. The blades swivelled around actuated joints behind her wrists to extend over not-Jane's hands, locking into place with a metallic clink. She completely ignored the bullets hitting her legs, which ricocheted with more metallic noises. Without a sound, her face still an impassive mask, she kicked off her shoes and launched into a run, pursuing the group as they fled through the yellow door.

Maura caught a glimpse of Lucas chuckling like a sadistic madman before they passed through the threshold.

Frankie was yelling at Maura and Susie to keep going, running just behind them with his gun still drawn. Nina was bringing up the rear, her expression tending towards panic. Maura glanced behind them, and saw not-Jane pass through the door and start gaining on them. Maura could see not-Jane's eyes robotically flicking between her targets, obviously evaluating the situation and creating a strategy to ensure they all ended up impaled on those terrifying blades.

They had entered a large open office space. There were cubicles set up in the centre of the room, with private offices and meeting rooms lining the walls. Frankie saw the open layout and had an idea. "Spread out! Maura, keep running straight for the door!"

Everyone obeyed, too scared to disagree. Maura kept running, while Susie ducked to the left and Frankie flashed to the right. Nina followed Maura for a moment before turning left as well.

Maura glanced over her shoulder again to note that not-Jane had followed Susie. She realised that each of Jane's steps was propelling her further than should have been humanly possible, each stride long and robotic, suggesting that the enhancements she had noted were increasing the strength of her legs. Not-Jane was suddenly only a step behind Susie, who turned and screamed when she saw the blade swinging towards her. Frankie opened fire, but not-Jane had surprised him with her speed and it was too late.

Maura screamed and turned her path towards them as the blade dug into Susie's leg, followed by a second blade spearing through Susie's shoulder. Susie shrieked in pain, writhing against the metal, before not-Jane dropped her to the ground.

Suddenly Nina was there, firing quickly at not-Jane. Her shots weren't meant to disable this time, they were all head or torso hits. Not-Jane staggered away from Susie, the force of the shots propelling her into a cubicle wall.

Maura reached Susie as Nina's gun started clicking, cuing her to reload. Frankie reached them a moment later, tossing his gun to Nina and scooping Susie into his arms. The group started moving again, rushing towards the lifts. Susie was whimpering in pain, clinging to Frankie's neck like a lifeline.

Maura reached the lift room first, sprinting to the elevators and mashing both up buttons frantically. The lights above the elevator showed they were both on their way down from the first floor.

Maura huffed in frustration and turned back to see Frankie clear the door, still holding a bleeding Susie. She stepped back towards them, grabbing her sling with the intent to put pressure on Susie's wounds.

Seeing Maura turn back, Frankie yelled for her to stay put, not slowing his pace. Nina cleared the doorway several seconds after Frankie, diving out of the way of a vicious slash from not-Jane, who was right behind her. Nina rolled and came up firing, her shots propelling not-Jane backwards and through the door. Maura could see patches of metal showing through the skin of not-Jane's face where the bullets had struck, but the injuries didn't seem to be slowing not-Jane's assault. She continued to pursue them mechanically, not seeming to feel fatigue or pain, her face still in the same emotionless expression.

Finally the lift arrived. Maura backed through the open doors, moving to the control panel in order to close the doors as soon as everyone was on board. She yelled to Nina, who glanced in her direction and started sprinting after Frankie.

He slowed slightly as he reached the lift, gently putting Susie down. She was still bleeding from both wounds, her body trembling in pain and shock. Frankie and Maura turned back to watch Nina's progress, knowing they had to get away from not-Jane and Lucas before they could help Susie.

Nina was halfway across the room, running at full speed, but not-Jane had regained her footing and was pursuing her, gaining ground with every step.

Frankie threw a determined glance at Maura. "As soon as she's in, close the doors. Help Susie. Help Jane."

Before Maura could respond, Frankie launched out of the elevator, aiming straight for not-Jane. She screamed in horror as she realised what he intended. Nina only realised what had happened as she passed him, hitting the back of the lift as she failed to arrest her speed.

Frankie was yelling "Go, go, go!" back at Maura as he collided with not-Jane. There was a sickening crunch and Frankie screamed in pain, falling to his knees, but he successfully ruined her momentum, managing to maintain a grip on her waist and stopping her from following the others. His eyes found Maura's, pleading silently for her to run.

Maura screamed again in desperation, but pushed the button to close the doors, hating herself as she abandoned him. The last thing they saw as the doors slid shut was not-Jane reaching down to grab Frankie by the throat, his eyes looking up at the shell of his sister with resignation and abject fear.


	19. Chapter 19

Hi all!

Aren't holidays great! Third update in a week!

Thanks to JaneyGWF for betaing and attempting to keep the melodrama under control!

Let me know if you're still with me!

* * *

Maura was almost hyperventilating as the enormity of what Frankie had just done hit her. Nina was staring at the doors in disbelief, her breath coming in sharp gasps. Susie was crying, her face crumpled in agony, obviously trying to stop herself from whimpering in pain.

The lift doors abruptly opened, snapping Nina out of her stupor. She smacked Maura on the arm to get her attention, pulling off her backpack and thrusting it into Maura's shaking hands. Nina then bent over Susie, apologising softly before she hefted the woman into her arms and took off.

Maura managed to follow, pressing the buttons for the top floors before leaving the lift in an attempt to slow their pursuers. She saw that the other lift was moving towards the floor and gasped, running after Nina frantically.

The three burst out the front door and ran along the street towards Susie's car. Maura kept glancing behind them, but there was no sign of pursuit. It seemed like Frankie had managed to delay not-Jane long enough to let them get away.

When they reached the car Maura quickly found Susie's keys, opening the back door to allow Nina to put the bleeding criminalist on the seat. She climbed in after her, handing the keys to Nina so she could drive while Maura attended to Susie's wounds.

Maura heard Nina swear and glanced back at the building. Lucas had just come through the door, and was scanning the street furiously. Nina jumped behind the wheel, starting the car and squealing the tires in her haste to get away. Maura saw Lucas spot them and raise his gun, but they were already out of range. He screamed in frustration before turning back to the building.

Maura gasped in relief as she realised they'd gotten away, at least for now. She quickly verified that the backpack with Nina's equipment was safe, and her kit had also somehow stayed in her grip and made it into the back seat. Opening her bag, she grabbed the medical supplies and started to assess Susie's injuries.

Maura barely felt the car turning and swerving as she examined Susie, speaking softly and reassuringly as she worked. Her wounds were deep and painful, but strategically placed to disable rather than kill. She could tell from the rate of blood loss that there were no major blood vessels cut, which meant that they shouldn't need to go to a hospital. Maura would need to do further examination to determine if there was any nerve or muscle damage, but the fact that Susie was moving her limbs involuntarily due to the pain was encouraging.

Maura glanced out the windscreen, not recognising their location. "Where are we going?"

Nina was driving quickly but not illegally, obviously trying to blend in. Her hands kneaded the steering wheel in agitation as she answered. "I'm not sure yet. I was just trying to get some distance, work out if we're being followed. Once I'm sure we're in the clear we can work out where to go."

A look of realisation flitted over Nina's face. "Oh. Quick, give me your phone, and Susie's. We need to dump them so they can't be traced."

Maura carefully reached into Susie's pocket, finding her phone and handing it to Nina. She then retrieved her own, passing it into Nina's waiting hand. The tense woman glanced around furtively at the people near the car before winding down the window and tossing the phones, followed by her own.

Nina glanced around again, before relaxing slightly. "They shouldn't be able to track us now. Damn, I liked that phone!"

Maura nodded and turned back to Susie, working efficiently to dress her wounds. She continued to reassure her, emphasising that there didn't appear to be any permanent damage. Susie nodded in response, her face still contorted in pain. Maura dug through her bag again, finding some low grade pain relievers. They weren't ideal and certainly weren't as strong as Susie would need to completely block out the pain, but they were all she had. Susie gave her a shaky smile in thanks as she swallowed the pills, closing her eyes to focus on breathing evenly.

When Maura was finished dressing the wounds, she gently took Susie's hand. Susie's eyes opened groggily, her gaze unfocused for a few moments before finding Maura's face. Maura was relieved to feel Susie's hand tighten within her grip, squeezing gently but reassuringly.

Susie cleared her throat, her voice pained but clear. "I can tell you're about to start blaming yourself, but don't. It's not your fault Maura. Not my injuries, and not Frankie. We both chose to be there. We knew the risks. It was our choice."

Susie's eyes closed again, missing the sight of Maura's eyes filling with tears. She had been able to push her emotions down under her medical duties, but now her mind raced with the memories of what had just happened, her genius intellect scrambling to find some semblance of meaning in the chaos.

Jane had been transformed into something completely inhuman. The woman she had known was almost indistinguishable in the robotic monster that had chased them. There didn't seem to be any emotions within the façade of humanity, only blind obedience to her handler.

The blades that had swung out of her arms and the strength she had displayed were also terrifying. Maura now understood the purpose of the many surgical procedures she had discovered mapped out through Jane's scars. Her skeletal structure had been augmented to allow for superhuman strength, and her arms had been implanted with concealable deadly weapons. Combined with the ability to change her appearance and her unthinking compliance with any order, Jane had been turned into the perfect assassin.

And they had just left Frankie alone with her. After all her suspicions, all her reservations, Frankie had just unquestionably proved himself to be the most loyal brother and friend imaginable. She covered her mouth and suppressed a sob at the thought that she may never have the chance to apologise for doubting him.

Maura remained silent, allowing tears to spill unchecked as she held Susie's hand. Despite what Susie had said, she knew guilt would be her constant companion for quite some time, if not forever.

Around half an hour after leaving the facility, Nina pulled over in an alley. "There aren't any street cameras in this part of town, we should be safe. I want to ditch the car as soon as we can though. How's Susie?"

Maura opened her mouth to answer, but Susie spoke over her instead. "I'll be okay. We need a plan, somewhere to hide and look through the information."

Nina tapped the steering wheel thoughtfully. "We could go to a motel, and use a fake name. If we pay cash they shouldn't be able to find us. If we have enough cash, that is."

Maura reached into her bag, pulling out a wad of cash she had packed just in case. "This should be enough to get us started."

Nina nodded, her expression contemplative. "Susie, can you move?"

Susie simply nodded, gesturing for Maura to help her sit up. Nina watched the manoeuvre, satisfied with Susie's mobility, before she got out of the car.

After only a few minutes, Nina returned, opening the door. "I've found a car we can steal. It's old, so it shouldn't have any GPS or alarms."

The trio awkwardly made their way to the nondescript car Nina had found. Nina quickly popped open the door and helped get Susie inside, before moving into the front seat and hotwiring the car.

Around an hour later, they were pulling into the car park of a cheap motel. Maura had no idea what part of Boston they were in, but Nina insisted that she had stayed clear of any surveillance during their transit, which was the important part.

Nina checked them in, since her appearance was the least notable of the three. Susie was covered in blood, as was Maura after tending her wounds. Nina had somehow avoided getting bled on as she carried Susie out of the building. They quietly grabbed the two bags and shifted Susie into their room, avoiding any prying eyes as much as possible.

Susie gratefully settled onto the bed, the cramped space in the car not helping her injuries. Maura checked them over again, glad to see that both wounds had stopped bleeding. She packed a few pillows around Susie's body to help keep her as comfortable and still as possible.

Nina wasted no time in opening up her backpack, getting out her laptop and hooking up the hard drive containing all the crucial information she'd copied. She quickly copied the files to the laptop memory, to make sure they had a backup if anything went wrong.

Maura didn't know what to do with herself, so simply sank into a chair and waited. Her mind was still spiralling around the same thoughts, her emotions making her shoulders slump. The adrenalin had long since worn off, making the ache in her still healing shoulder painfully apparent. She made no attempt to relieve it however, finding some small solace in the pain, as if it would make up in some small way for her failure to protect those she cared about.

Nina had pulled out a tablet, and walked over to Maura, holding it out. "Maura, here. I've put some of the files on this, can you start to look through them?"

Maura raised her head slowly, her eyes finding Nina's compassionate expression. Feeling undeserving of her consideration, Maura simply nodded and took the tablet, opening the first file she saw. Nina sighed, obviously realising the frame of mind Maura was in, but remained silent, walking over to check on Susie instead. The exhausted criminalist appeared to have drifted into a restless sleep, her face still crumpled in a pained wince.

Suppressing another guilty sigh, Maura turned her attention to the tablet and started to read.

The file structure was similar to the one they had discovered in the surveillance files. Instead of opening Jane's file in the Subjects folder, Maura decided to look through the Agents records first.

The agents were listed by last name. She scrolled down the list, seeing a few names she recognised as BPD cops. Lucas' name was jarring to read, bringing a frown to her face immediately.

Maura was about to open the file when she had another thought. She continued to scroll, reaching the R's. Ray, Reek, Rees, Riley, Riker, Roberts…..

Maura sighed in relief. No Rizzoli. There was no record of Frankie being an agent. He really had followed them to protect them. He truly had no idea where his sister was this whole time.

Nina heard her soft exclamation and quickly got up, her voice low to avoid waking Susie. "Did you find something?"

Maura smiled faintly. "No, I didn't find anything. Frankie was telling the truth."

Nina nodded understandingly, seeming torn over whether to speak. "There was no way for us to know. And even if we had known for sure, it wouldn't have changed anything."

Maura's smile dropped, and she returned to her reading without a response. She didn't need to voice her guilt to feel it keenly. It clung to her like a miasmic cloud, and it would take more than mere words to disperse it. She doubted she would ever be rid of it.

Shaking off her dark thoughts for the time being, she opened Lucas' file. There were records for Recruitment, Background, Service and Missions. She opened each folder, wanting to know as much as possible about the monster that had ruined their lives.

Around an hour later, Susie started to stir, moaning quietly. Maura put down the tablet and rushed over, checking the bandages urgently. They seemed fine, with no new bleeding. Susie groaned again and settled back into her slumber. Maura had hoped the pills she had administered would knock Susie out and let her heal, and it appeared to be working.

Maura stepped back, her emotions swirling angrily after reading Lucas' file. Nina saw the look on her face and decided Maura needed a break.

She stood and moved to the mini-fridge, grabbing two cans of drink and handing one to Maura. She looked set to argue, but Nina stared her down with a raised eyebrow. Maura huffed in exasperation, opening the drink and giving Nina a thankful look as she returned to her chair.

Nina pulled her chair over to sit next to Maura, speaking quietly again. "So, found anything interesting?"

A revolted look crossed Maura's face before she started explaining. "I've been reading Lucas' file. He was recruited by the organisation, which I still haven't found a name for, before he joined BPD. His history before joining included some time in the army, then time with SWAT in New York. He's a specialist in close quarter combat, black ops and assassination. He tends to employ brutality wherever possible, as his army and police records include several incidents involving unnecessary force. His service record indicates he is excellent at following orders, but lacks competence when required to think for himself, which is why he was recruited. He enjoys following someone else's plan, and becomes panicked and sloppy when improvising."

Nina nodded, thinking over recent events. "That explains why the cover story after Jane returned was so transparent, he must have come up with it himself. Whoever he's working for must have started stepping in and cleaning up after him later, with your removal and Susie's suspension."

Maura nodded in return. "His job was to infiltrate BPD and cover up cases that could link back to the organisation. He has falsified evidence, made witnesses disappear, botched interrogations on purpose, anything required to hide their activities."

Maura sighed, her revulsion building again. "The case that got Jane and I pulled into this is in here. It was the one Lucas asked you to look into. The doctor who was dumped in a park with an odd drug overdose. Jane was the assigned detective on the case, and there were no leads. I had completed the tox screen, and the drugs in his system didn't appear in any database. I couldn't even conclusively say whether it was a homicide or an accidental death, there was no family to push for resolution of the case, and there were no suspects, which is why Jane hadn't been able to get far with her side of the investigation. However, I had requested an analysis of the drugs in his system from a specialist lab in Chicago, and I was waiting on the results."

Maura gestured to the tablet angrily. "The organisation Lucas worked for found out about the test and were worried that I might find a link to them. Some of the compounds in the drugs would be traceable to a company here in Boston, which would have eventually led to the facility we were in today. Lucas knew Jane and I would figure it out. So he decided to get rid of us."

Maura opened up another file. "I found a reference to the doctor as Subject 147, so I checked his file in the Subject folder. He had been kidnapped, and they were experimenting on him. The drugs in his system were designed to weaken his mind and make him susceptible to brainwashing. If successful, they intended to release him back to his normal life, still himself but reprogrammed to obey anyone who said the appropriate code words. He would for all intents and purposes be a sleeper agent working for the organisation, all without knowing it. His job as a surgeon for the most expensive private hospital in Boston gave him access to high profile patients who could be recruited and used by the organisation."

Nina frowned. "So what went wrong? Why did he end up dead in the park?"

Maura flicked forward a few pages. "It seemed there was a chemical imbalance in his brain that had impeded the efficacy of the drugs but the scientists didn't realise until after he'd been released. I only noticed it when I did the autopsy, there would have been no way to diagnose it while he was alive. He had played along, pretending to be under their control, when in fact he still retained full command of his faculties. When he escaped, he attempted to contact someone in the police department. Unfortunately, the detective he contacted worked for the organisation, a detective Jones."

Nina groaned. "So of course they immediately realised their mistake."

Maura nodded. "But they made another one. Instead of recapturing him or killing him, they sent a team to his house with an increased dose of the drugs. They thought that he'd just had a slight glitch, and that a higher dose would enable the programming to reassert itself. Instead, the drugs caused him to have a psychotic break. He managed to get away from the agents. The records don't show how he got to the park, but by the time they figured out where he went, BPD had already been contacted. They had no choice but to let us process the case and try to disrupt the investigation."

Maura glanced at the file before sighing. "I can't be sure, but I think I had been getting in Lucas' way for a while leading up to that case. We had several minor altercations about conclusions I had reached that compelled investigations to continue, rather than being neatly concluded. At the time I had thought he was just lazy, but now I realise I was making things more difficult for him to cover up."

Nina frowned. "But, that doesn't explain why he took Jane from the basement. If he just wanted you dead, why involve her? And why didn't he keep trying to kill you after the initial attempt?"

Maura cleared her throat, slightly ashamed. "I think I was so distracted with my search for Jane that I wasn't an issue anymore. I mean I never followed up on the overdose results, I was spending so much time away from the office and delegating so much work…I think the organisation decided that it would be more suspicious for me to die or disappear than just to let me destroy my reputation and credibility. In my single-mindedness and stubbornness I did their work for them."

Nina tried to reassure her. "At least it kept you alive. If you'd been digging into their business, you wouldn't have ever found Jane, and we wouldn't have a chance to rescue her now."

Maura frowned, accepting Nina's words but still feeling displeased with her behaviour, and opened Lucas' last mission file. "It seems like I started to annoy Lucas again four months ago. He put in another appeal for me to be eliminated, and it was approved. There is a reference to a mission being planned, but it was never finalised or carried out. The records stop after that file. The last modification I could find was three months ago."

Maura flicked back to the Subject 314 folder with trepidation. "I suspect the answer to why he took Jane is in here, but I haven't been able to bring myself to read it yet. What have you found?"

Nina decided not to push the issue and started summarising. "I was looking through the general files. I haven't found a name for this organisation either, I suspect it might not have one. The organisation is so secret it doesn't appear to exist, and it's less than five years old. I get the impression that the facility we found is the only one that exists. There was mention of other considered sites, but nothing that suggests they were actually built."

Nina's eyes dropped, her voice serious. "It's bad Maura. I've found a lot of names associated with this belonging to very important people. I've started making a list, but so far I've found twelve cops, five of them inside BPD. I've found two judges. Twenty five doctors."

Nina paused, her voice picking up a layer of disgust. "Our Deputy Superintendent is named. So is the Governor."

Maura gasped, standing from her chair and starting to pace. "I'm surprised I lasted as long as I did in the chair. The governor? You're right, this is bad."

Nina nodded soberly. "I haven't found anything like a mission statement, but I've found enough to read between the lines. The organisation finds candidates for experimentation or utilisation, kidnaps them, and puts them into one of four subject groups. Each subject is given a unique three digit designation, starting with the group number. For example, your deceased doctor was part of group one, hence 147. Jane ended up in group three, so she is 314."

Maura frowned, not liking where this was going. "So what's the difference between the groups?"

Nina looked at her hands. "Basically, it's what experiments are performed. Group one is the most non-invasive. It seems to consist of drug treatments and brainwashing, which is done via forced visual and auditory stimulation. Nothing is implanted into the subject, and they are returned to their lives once the programming is complete. The average subject is only in the facility for a week. The organisation comes up with a cover story, like a holiday or conference, so nobody even knows they went missing.

"Group two is where things start getting a bit more sci-fi. This group is mostly homeless people, criminals, anyone who can be permanently abducted without a fuss. They are augmented physically, similar to what we've seen in Jane. I haven't found functional descriptions for all the hardware yet, but it seems to vary slightly between subjects. This group is also reprogrammed, but they aren't released back into the world once they are finished. They are kept in the facility, only being sent out on missions. There is around a 50% success rate for this group, with the rest either dying in surgery or having a complete mental breakdown during the programming. A few were destroyed after failing missions and almost exposing the organisation."

Maura's hands were shaking with anger. She couldn't believe anyone could be so cruel to another human being, keeping them against their will, stripping them of their own minds. It was against every value held by their society. It was unthinkable. But it had been happening right here, in their city.

Nina paused for a moment, evaluating whether she should continue. Maura met her gaze with determination, needing to hear the rest.

Nina took a deep breath before continuing, her voice trembling slightly with ire as well. "The third group is for people who are brought in deceased. From what I've found, they don't really expect these subjects to survive, they are more experiments for life-saving techniques that are ethically unable to be otherwise attempted. As far as I can see, Jane is the only one to have survived."

Maura crumpled forlornly back into her seat. So Jane really did die for her. She had seen the video, she had evaluated the damage, she had seen the horrible scars, but she hadn't honestly believed that Jane had really been dead.

Nina saw Maura's reaction, and continued in a subdued tone. "The fourth group had no survivors, which is probably for the best. It was a very experimental group. Basically they were performing experiments on the remains of subjects who had perished. Real Frankenstein stuff. Cyborgs, DNA manipulation, cross-species experimentation, all the stuff of nightmares. The general notes said that there were no successes, but some of the results were of benefit to group three."

Maura's head snapped up. "Jane had some of those techniques used on her?"

Nina shrugged helplessly. "I haven't read the 314 file yet. I thought you'd want to do that yourself. If not, I can totally…"

Maura cut her off with a wave of her hand. "No, you're right, I need to read it. I need to understand everything they did to her. I need to know if there might be a way to reverse it."

Nina nodded sadly, knowing that out of the three of them Maura had the best chance of comprehending what had been done to Jane and finding a solution. She squeezed Maura's arm before returning to her own files.

Maura closed her eyes, taking a few calming breaths, before picking up the tablet again. She glanced at Nina, feeling suddenly anthropophobic, and realised she needed privacy to read this information. She grabbed her drink and moved into the bathroom, receiving an understanding look from Nina before she quietly closed the door. She opened the first document in the Acquisition folder and started to read.

Nearly two hours later, Maura opened the door. Susie was awake, carefully drinking some water. Nina looked up in surprise, her eyes carefully evaluating Maura's state of mind.

Maura's face was red and raw from hours of crying, but her expression was determined and her voice was laced with steel. "I've found something. I know what we need to do to get Jane back."

Nina stood up in excitement. "Great! What is it?"

Maura smiled deviously. "We need to kidnap Lucas."


	20. Chapter 20

Hi all!

Welcome to chapter 20!

Before we get into it, there's a few things I need to cover.

Firstly, I want to thank all the guests who have left reviews over the course of the story, in addition to the signed reviews who I try to answer (and if I've ever forgotten to answer anyone, I give my heartfelt apology!). This story has now blown past 200 reviews, which I am completely stoked about! I read and appreciate every single review you guys leave, often multiple times when I'm a bit stuck for inspiration or motivation, so thank you all!

Secondly, I need to thank my beta as always! She has done a fantastic job making sure this story is as good as it can be before you guys get to see it! If you haven't yet, please wander over to JaneyGWF's profile and check out her stories!

Thirdly, this chapter requires a bit of a warning. There are some very traumatic things discussed, so this is a trigger warning for mentions and descriptions of torture, violence and abuse. If any of that bad stuff gets to you, please proceed with caution.

Now, the italics in this chapter are Maura's thoughts. I've tried something a bit different with the chapter, hopefully you'll get the hang of it. Please let me know if it worked, if not I'll know not to try it again!

Enjoy!

* * *

Maura realised she was once again tapping her hands on the wheel impatiently. It had been a common occurrence over the past three days of surveillance, and it continued to annoy her every time she noticed herself doing it.

She was sitting in another stolen car, her hair carefully hidden beneath a shawl and her face obscured behind ridiculously oversized sunglasses. She had been surreptitiously observing Lucas for the past three hours as he fruitlessly searched for them. He had been following leads and getting more frustrated by the day, which Maura was finding quite amusing.

As she vigilantly observed the scene, her mind wandered back over the facts of Jane's transformation that she had outlined to Nina and Susie, along with her insane plan. Her explanation had been long and involved, but they finally had enough information to act.

_We saw from the footage that Jane was killed by Lucas before she was brought to the facility. The records show she had been deceased for thirty-nine minutes when the doctors received her body. Jane had originally been intended for inclusion in group one. Her reputation in BPD had marked her as particularly valuable for the purpose of covering up suspicious deaths, and the organisation had planned to brainwash her a few weeks after I was eliminated, to take advantage of the new control they had over the medical examiner's office._

_Lucas knew how badly he'd botched the operation when he accidentally killed Jane, but he brought her in anyway hoping the doctors could somehow save her and fix his mistake. Fortunately for him, the doctors had a new technology they were intending to use on the next group three candidate, and Jane was a viable subject._

Lucas was currently harassing a witness who had been in the street the day they had infiltrated the facility. He had already talked to the man twice, and Maura could see that the young gentleman was about to start throwing punches at the irate agent.

Lucas finally walked away, spitting a threat over his shoulder. Maura smirked, pleased to see that Lucas wasn't getting anywhere.

_The technology involved a revolutionary type of nanotechnology called nannites. They are programmable microscopic machines that are introduced into a subject's bloodstream and are controlled and maintained by a central hub. The hub is implanted into a subject's abdomen._

Maura tensed in her seat when not-Jane stepped out of a nearby building to join Lucas. She had known not-Jane was nearby, but this was the first time Maura had seen her since the facility. She didn't appear to have suffered any ill effects from being shot that day, her skin apparently healed without a flaw.

_The nannites used initially on Jane were programmed to replicate the function of damaged tissue and repair that tissue much faster than humanly possible. As Jane had been dead for a relatively short amount of time, the nannites managed to revive her with minimal brain damage._

_From the reports, it appears that once Jane regained consciousness she was herself, with only minor coordination and memory issues that soon repaired themselves. A week after being killed, Jane was completely healed, physically and mentally, with the exception of the scars we saw._

Lucas appeared to be taking his rage out on not-Jane, screaming at her impotently while he waved his hands around emphatically. She was completely impassive under the tirade, her eyes casually scanning the street as she listened.

Maura gasped as not-Jane's eyes locked onto her. She saw not-Jane say something to Lucas, who swivelled and saw Maura gaping at them.

_When Jane was still recovering, she started to be drugged with a similar cocktail to those used on group one subjects. I believe the intention was to follow through on the original plan, to reintroduce Jane back into her previous life with no memory of the organisation, the same as all the other group one subjects. _

Maura lurched into motion, starting the car and slamming it into gear. She saw Lucas smirking at her as he ran to his car, not-Jane falling in alongside him. Maura floored the accelerator, her car powering past Lucas' as he pulled out in pursuit. Her mind continued to recite the information she had discovered, which kept her calm in the face of the immense danger she found herself in.

_The ongoing investigation into Jane's disappearance in combination with the failure of the deceased doctor's mind control made the leaders of the organisation hesitant. They were worried that Jane might be released only to remember what had happened, or worse, to have some sort of malfunction that led someone to discover her enhancements._

Maura could hear Susie's concerned voice over the radio. They had managed to obtain both a police scanner and a set of radio headsets, allowing them to coordinate while they tailed Lucas. Maura hit her transmit button, weaving through traffic recklessly as Lucas gained on her. "Susie, they spotted me. I'm trying to get away, but Lucas and Jane are right behind me in an unmarked."

_The decision was made three days after her resurrection to keep Jane captive and held in the facility. Her physical treatment would be more in line with the usual procedures for group two, adapted to take advantage of the nannites. Her brainwashing regimen was changed to a more invasive rewriting of her personality. Instead of being a normal person who would react to certain trigger words, she was reshaped into a passive, compliant non-person, who would only react to designated handlers._

Maura could see Lucas speaking into a phone as Susie answered her. "Okay Maura, turn into the next street, Nina's coming to help."

Maura didn't have time to answer before she hear gunshots from behind her. She screamed and ducked at the back window took a hit, the bullet slamming into the front dash. Keeping her head down, she kept going. She yanked her shawl and glasses off, wanting to maximise her visibility.

_This reprogramming started with the instillation of an intense hatred and resentment towards her family. She was shown her scars, which had been intentionally left unhealed by her nannites for this purpose. The nannites had also been programmed to make her hair fall out and leave her skin pale, making her appear weak and sickly. She was then shown an altered version of the video of her capture. The image of Lucas was replaced with her family members, and the clip was played over and over, accompanied by a cocktail of drugs to keep her mind pliable. After a few days, she was given hallucinogenic drugs and started to be beaten in her cell by people wearing masks and impersonating her family. The idea was reinforced that her family had intentionally harmed her and then abandoned her._

Maura saw the turn rapidly approaching, and was forced to take it too fast, the tyres on the left side of the car squealing in protest. She narrowly missed an oncoming car, but somehow made it through unscathed. Lucas and not-Jane were still right behind her.

_This process took weeks, as Jane's loyalty to her family was nearly unshakeable. Eventually the chemicals broke down her resistance, and the programming started to take effect. I believe that despite the deep damage done to her psyche, Jane still retains the fundamental aspects of her personality. Despite her programming, she was unable to kill Frankie when she was first reunited with him, even though we know she was more than capable physically. Even though she was visibly outraged and had to be ordered to stop hurting him, I think there was something stubbornly ingrained in her sense of self that made her hold back._

Maura saw a car weaving through the oncoming traffic towards her, and realised Nina was driving it. She hit the accelerator, moving closer to the right. She caught a determined look on Nina's face as they passed. She saw Lucas yell something at Jane, before a car cut between them and she lost sight of her pursuers momentarily.

_The next stage of Jane's deconstruction was to remove her attachment to her friends and co-workers. This part of the programming started to be weaved in between the family detachment treatments, as they were called. She was shown footage of all those closest to her, making comments about how much easier their lives were without Jane, how they never looked for her, how they applauded her family for finally getting rid of her. Combined with the drugs and the beatings, Jane started to believe everyone in her life had abandoned her. She withdrew into herself, and started to lose touch with reality._

Nina leaned out her window, looking like an action hero as she fired at Lucas' tyres. He jerked the wheel, contributing to the car's spin as his right front tyre blew. The car almost flipped, but finally settled with a crunch back onto the street. Nina flew past, a triumphant cheer flooding their radio channel.

_Once that happened, they started to erode her sense of self. They operated on her again, implanting a device in her brain that could completely suppress her pain response. At the same time, they began augmenting her skeleton to augment her physical strength. They also added a GPS tracking device, not wanting to take the risk of losing track of such a valuable asset. Once she had recovered from the surgery, they started conditioning her to reject characteristics that made her feel human._

Maura's responding praise died in her throat as she passed through the next intersection and saw two more cars swerve into her wake. She recognised the cars as BPD unmarked vehicles, and suspected Lucas had called in some of his fellow agents. "Guys, we're not out of the woods yet, I've got reinforcements on my tail."

_As we all know, one of Jane's most defining characteristics is her speech. She uses her words as weapons, as tools, as ways to express herself, to gain information, to make herself understood. They had also realised this aspect of her character, and it was the first thing they took away from her. She would be presented with questions, and each time she answered with words instead of gestures they would turn off her pain suppression. She would suddenly feel the pain of her new implants, which would have been excruciating. She quickly learned not to speak, and became frightened of the concept._

Nina's voice was frantic as she answered. "Jane jumped onto my car when I passed them! I need help, she's trying to make me crash!"

Maura continued to accelerate, horrified as she listened to Nina's desperate call. Behind Nina's voice, she heard not-Jane yelling at her to pull over. She knew she needed to turn around and help, but her pursuers were getting too close and she had no room to manoeuvre.

_They then started training her to sleep on the floor, eat food from a dish with no utensils, stay standing at all times, and obey her handler's commands without hesitation. Her fear response to those activities was never as severe as to speaking, since she had already learned the consequences of disobedience. They rarely had to reactivate her pain receptors, as the memory of the agony was enough to ensure her compliance. They had succeeded in their efforts to make her believe she wasn't human anymore._

Susie was trying to stay calm, giving Nina instructions on where to drive. Maura heard a metallic squeal accompanied by the sounds of breaking glass and a pained scream through the radio, then an ominous crackling as Nina's channel went silent.

_After almost a year in captivity, Jane's personality had been completely stripped away. She was the passive person we met when she first turned up at my doorstep. She would obey any commands from a handler unquestioningly, and she had no thoughts of escape as she wholeheartedly believed all her loved ones had willingly abandoned her._

As much as she wanted to, Maura couldn't allow herself to worry about Nina, she had her own immediate concerns. One of the agents had pulled alongside her car, and was attempting to force her into a parked car. When he swung the wheel towards her, Maura suddenly hit the brake, tapping the back of his car in a textbook PIT manoeuvre as he lunged towards her and putting his cruiser into a flat spin. She dove into the oncoming traffic in an attempt to avoid the turning car, which ploughed into the line of parked vehicles. Honks and swearing from the innocent bystanders informed her of how close she was to disaster.

_She was subjected to further surgeries, which added further strengthening plates to her skeleton as well as the blades in her arms. When these enhancements were healed, they started testing her physical abilities in a proving ground. They soon discovered that despite the new heaviness of her limbs and the extra encumbrance of the hub implanted in her abdomen, Jane was very capable of competent hand to hand combat. She proved that in battle conditions, she remained completely calm, continuing to fight if ordered even after being injured._

As Maura veered back onto the right side of the road, the second car pulled up alongside the crashed car, the furious agent quickly transferring vehicles. The manoeuvre gave Maura a few seconds of breathing space. She quickly hit her radio, asking Susie where to go.

_The organisation seemed to be considering sending her out of the facility on assassination missions, similar to the group two subjects, when a new breakthrough in nannite technology prompted a new round of experimentation. The new technology introduced a new kind of nannite which could mimic the outer appearance of any sampled person. The illusion nannites would run from the same hub as the fast healing nannites, but the hub would need to be removed and replaced with an upgraded model._

Susie's voice sounded panicked. "Maura, BPD has been notified of the chase, and there's a description of your vehicle. You're about to have more company! They're six minutes away! You need to head back to the safe house, I'll try to find something to help you lose them!"

_Jane almost didn't survive the surgery to replace the hub, only making it through the recovery process due to an infusion of upgraded healing nannites. It took almost six months for her to regain full awareness, and another three to regain full motor function._

Maura spun the wheel, turning into another street that would see her heading in the right direction. The pursuing car followed, both vehicles still moving at reckless speeds.

_When she did recover, they could alter her appearance to look like any person they wanted. After a brief training period, she was sent on an assassination mission which required infiltration of a secure facility. Her physical image was perfect, but her lack of speech proved to be a hindrance and she was discovered. The organisation was forced to send in agents to clean up the mess by destroying the entire facility and killing everyone inside._

A third car pulled around the corner, several seconds behind the agents. It ruthlessly rammed into other motorists obstructing its path, causing one car to veer into a shop front. Maura saw people diving out of the way, and desperately hoped that nobody was hurt. She fought against her natural urge to stop and help, continuing away from the carnage. She knew that if she allowed them to catch her, she would be dead within seconds.

_After that debacle, Jane's captors realised they needed her to be able to interact with people if her infiltration capabilities were to be of any real use. By that time another breakthrough in nannite technology was available for testing, and Jane was put through another round of surgery to implant the necessary hardware into her spine and brain._

Maura could see the unmarked gaining on her, the driver's skill in offensive driving allowing him to cut through the traffic with ease. She could see the determined look on the agent's faces as they drew close, weapons drawn and ready.

_The new nannites allowed a programmer to load a complete personality into Jane, complete with mannerisms, likes and dislikes, knowledge, relationships and mission parameters. The technology worked as intended, completely overwriting Jane's own personality when activated. However, creating a whole personality from scratch isn't as simple as it sounds. Everything from basic language through to how the person walks has to be specifically programmed. Jane was unable to be used in the field for another year while programmers attempted to create a useable personality template for her._

Maura looked around frantically, unable to see a way out. The second car was now catching up as well, and she could see a very angry Lucas at the wheel. He must have commandeered a car after Nina disabled his own.

_Finally, around six months ago, they were successful. A program of sufficient complexity and detail was uploaded into Jane, based on a personality profile provided by Lucas. It was designed to imitate Jane's original personality and allow her to return to BPD. The organisation had no immediate plans to reintegrate Jane back into her life, but it had been chosen as a good starting point for a personality template._

Susie's voice crackled over the radio, sounding out of breath. "Help is coming, Maura! Just keep going straight!"

_Once the program appeared to be stable, testing began on her new protocols. They spent the next three months ironing out glitches and mistakes, with input from video surveillance and Lucas to try and get their copy of Jane as close to the real thing as possible. _

Maura obeyed Susie's instructions, the cars now right on her bumper. Lucas gritted his teeth before ramming her car, the impact threatening to spin her car into the oncoming cars. By sheer luck, she managed to keep her car on the road.

_As Lucas was the most knowledgeable about Jane, he was made her primary handler. He trained with her, testing out the different scenarios and missions that were embedded into her programming. There was a basic mission, Infiltrate, designed for blending in to Jane's life with no specific goal in mind. This mode involved imprinting Jane on a named agent, which compels her to obey that agent's commands exclusively for the duration of the mission. Jane would act as if she was romantically involved with the named agent in order to excuse her apparent need to be around them constantly._

Maura's attention was suddenly drawn to the street in front of her by a loud horn. Her eyes widened in shock to see a fire engine barrelling towards her on the wrong side of the road.

_There was an assault mode, which is designed for elimination of a target where stealth is no longer a concern. Jane would cease pretending to be normal, activating her arm blades and using her enhanced strength to engage the named targets._

She swerved around the fire truck, which cut between her and her pursuers. Lucas managed to avoid a collision, running up on the gutter and partway down an alley. His partners weren't as fortunate, their car hitting the side of the truck head on and coming to a stop with a sickening crunch.

_There is also a passive mode, Mode One, which is simply her inactivated state overlaid with a compulsion to obey commands from any handler. This mode was intended to be used as a sort of maintenance mode, it would make her compliant while they moved her between testing locations. The notes mention that this mode was unnecessary, since it had been years since Jane had shown any signs of disobedience._

Maura screeched to a stop, quickly scanning the truck for signs of life. She smiled in relief, seeing a battered Susie Chang was trying to extricate herself from the cabin, looking exhilarated and uninjured. Maura backed closer to the truck and opened the passenger door, waiting until Susie dove in before hitting the accelerator and making their escape. She saw Lucas wrestling with the wheel to pursue them, his expression beyond furious.

_The organisation was pleased with the progress made on her programming and was looking for a mission to test her on. Lucas recommended that I be eliminated, and given Jane's ability to infiltrate BPD it was decided that my assassination would be her test run. A cover story would be created to allow Jane to return from her disappearance without suspicion, and once the attention had died down she would be directed to kill me._

Susie had a huge grin plastered on her face as she settled into her seat and pulled on the seat belt. Maura couldn't help grinning back, although she knew she needed to have some stern words about reckless behaviour with Susie at a later date. Lucas was close behind them, gaining on them once again.

_However, someone made the mistake of discussing the mission in front of Jane while she was not in an activated state. The video surveillance of the event showed that Jane started to struggle when she heard that I was the intended target. The scientist nearest to her started to put her into a Mode One state, but she managed to free a hand and slice his vocal cords to stop him from speaking. His other injuries were the result of him attempting to restrain her, and Jane thrashing around in a panic while her blades were extended. After he staggered away, she escaped her restraints and used her incredible strength to tear the door off its hinges, tossing it through the window._

After a few blocks, Susie frantically pointed to a turnoff. Maura skidded around the corner, the shuddering of the tyres indicating she needed to end this chase soon. Lucas followed, only a few car lengths behind.

_By this point, the facility had been put on alert. Several agents attempted to stop Jane, but she simply ignored the gun shots and ran past them. She made her way to the control room, pushed past the operators and smashed her way to the Master Lock Override. This opened every door in the facility. The staff panicked as soon as they realised what had happened and started running for the exits. The subjects who had been restrained in various rooms started attacking their captors or just wandering around, depending on what experimentation had been done. The facility fell into chaos, the command structure collapsed, and containment was lost._

Susie pointed again, and Maura turned, however the car had reached its endurance limit. The front left tyre exploded, sending the car into an uncontrolled spin. Both women shrieked and held on, helpless against momentum as the car smashed into a wall.

_The footage shows that the scientist who bled out in Jane's room was the only fatality. There were many injured, but they all managed to escape. Twelve group two subjects also escaped, along with Jane. Four of the subjects had visible augmentations to their face or arms, which should make them stand out. The others all had internal augmentations, but nothing external that would reveal their true natures. There were no group one subjects in the facility that day, leaving ninety two sleeper agents out there as well. _

Lucas jumped out of his car, running over to the wreck with a gun drawn. Maura moaned, moving her head gently until she determined that nothing felt seriously damaged. She lifter her head from the steering wheel and glanced over at Susie, who was also moving slowly. Maura froze as she felt the cold sensation of a gun pressing against her temple. She closed her eyes, hoping for a miracle.

_Nobody ever returned to the facility. The power was left on, the computers were left unlocked, and nobody ever came to investigate._

Lucas growled out an angry condemnation. "Any last words, doctor?"

_The organisation was buried and forgotten, until the day that Jane found me._

Lucas suddenly jerked and crumpled to the ground, his weapon falling from his hands harmlessly. Maura let out a relieved gasp and smiled gratefully at the person behind him holding a taser. "Good to see you Korsak. You have excellent timing."

Korsak gave her an exasperated smile in return. "That was some plan, doc!"

Maura's face dropped in worry. "Nina?"

The woman in question stepped out from behind Korsak, her smirking face littered with small scratches. "Present and accounted for!"

Maura's head dropped back onto the steering wheel in relief. "Susie, are you ok?"

Susie groaned, but Maura could hear the humorous exaggeration. "Good to hear."

Korsak kicked Lucas' gun away, his face twisted in disgust as he looked at the unconscious agent. "So, now what?"

Maura pulled herself out of the car, glaring down at their fallen tormentor. "Now, we end this."


	21. Chapter 21

Hi all!

So, thanks so much for all the feedback about last chapter! I was really nervous about it, but the consensus seems to be that it came out like it was supposed to! I really appreciate all the support and encouragement, I'm excited that people are enjoying this story!

Now, I owe JaneyGWF a huge thanks for this next chapter, she helped me course correct one of the sections which was just not cooperating, but after a heck of a lot of work I love how it came out, so thank you so much!

I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! I've been looking forward to a few things in this chapter since the start, so I'd love to hear what you think!

* * *

Maura watched in anticipation as Lucas slowly regained consciousness. They had given him a sedative after he was tasered, to ensure he wouldn't wake up while they moved him, but he was finally groaning his way towards awareness. She wilfully kept a victorious smirk off her face as she saw his confusion and momentary panic as he realised he was tied to a chair.

She kept her face impassive and controlled as his eyes focussed on her. She slowly walked towards him, her arms crossed, and stopped a few meters away.

She remained silent for several agonising seconds before speaking in a level and strong voice. "Hello, Agent Lucas. Welcome to our humble home."

His eyes predictably flicked around the room, trying to work out where he was. Maura stepped back slightly, pointing out landmarks calmly. "We're in an abandoned factory, miles from any neighbours, so don't worry about anyone hearing us."

She walked over towards the others, who were all staring at Lucas with equally impassive faces. "You remember my friends? We have Korsak, Jane's partner, who you nearly buried in a building. We have Nina, who you tried to use to cover up your own incompetence before nearly driving her off the road. She has some nice cuts and bruises to thank you for."

Lucas tried to speak, the drugs still addling his system. Maura stepped aggressively towards him, her tone silencing him with its cutting timbre. "Don't be rude. Let me introduce everyone."

Lucas flinched at the stormy look on her face, nodding slowly. She stepped back, her voice returning to its unnatural calm. "Then we have Susie. You assaulted her, threatened her, broke her jaw, crashed a car she was in, had her stabbed twice, and got her suspended unfairly from work. You see the bruises and bandages still left on her from your unprovoked attacks?"

Susie's expression grew more hostile, her hands moving restlessly over a control box she was holding.

Maura's voice dropped to a threatening growl. "And in case you've forgotten who I am, let me remind you. You dropped a building on me. You stabbed me. You shot me. You tried to destroy my reputation. You had me tortured. And most importantly, you took my family away from me."

Maura let that sink in for a moment, before pointedly looked at the box in Susie's hands, turning back to Lucas with a pleasant smile. "See the device Susie's holding? It's a control unit for a useful device we put together just for you. Did you notice the plate you're sitting on?"

Lucas looked down at the two metre square piece of metal that his chair was positioned in the centre of, and Maura couldn't help but be pleased at the fear that flitted across his face. "Good, you see it. That plate is hooked up to the onsite transformers that are still functional. Did you know a factory this size needs 3kW motors to run some of the machines? Do you know how much voltage you need to run a 3kW motor, Agent Lucas?"

His eyes met hers, silently pleading, although his face scrunched into a falsely confident mask to cover his fear. His eyes were clear, the drugs lingering in his system swept away by his adrenalin and fear.

Maura smiled sweetly. "Do you know what that level of voltage does to the human body? I do. You see, I'm a medical examiner. It's my job to know what killed people. I've seen people killed hundreds of different ways. I've seen the effects of the pain they endured before they died. I know all the most peaceful ways to leave this earth."

Maura's face fell into a determined frown, her arms crossing again. "And I know all the most horrific ways to kill someone, Agent Lucas. I've seen the work of the most vicious serial killers in the world. I've studied their psychological profiles. I've talked with their victims."

Maura's lips pulled into a familiar smile as she pulled out an ice pick from her pocket, her fingers gently caressing the instrument. "And I believe you know who my father is. He's one of my most prolific patrons. I've learned a lot from him, about what happens to people who mess with family."

Lucas' smirk had dropped, and his hands were gripping the arm rests of the chair reflexively. Maura turned away, letting him sweat for a moment. She could hear him straining against his restraints, testing the limits of his confinement.

She slowly turned back to face him, her eyes boring into his. She walked right up to the edge of the plate, leaning towards him threateningly. "Now, Agent Lucas. The reason you're here, and so far intact, is because we would like you to help us with Frankie and Jane Rizzoli. Let's start with Frankie."

Lucas regained some of his bluster, but the underlying fear was still evident. "I'm not telling. Maybe he's alive, maybe he's not."

Maura smiled in relief. "So he's alive. Thank you for the information. We'll discuss his location and safe return later."

Lucas frowned. "But I didn't say anything!"

Maura smirked, her head tilted condescendingly. "If he was dead, you'd have been pretending he wasn't to try to get some leverage. Since he's alive, you're trying to gloat."

Lucas' frown deepened, the agent obviously frustrated with himself. "Well you know I have other agents on my side! They're probably rounding up anyone else you've ever met right now! If they don't hear from me, they'll start killing people!"

Korsak stepped forward. "Actually, everyone we care about is currently on their way out of the state. They've all been instructed to disappear unless they see on the news that your entire organisation is finished and we are all safe. So you can save the threats, we know you've got nothing on us."

Lucas glared at the ex-detective. "How did you end up in on this? We had you under surveillance!"

Korsak chuckled, sending an amused glance at Maura. "Apparently you need to tighten your net. These ladies have been sending me messages attached to stray dogs for the last few days. I've got so many new four legged friends I may need to buy a second house."

Nina and Susie were valiantly trying to keep a straight face, and Korsak realised he was ruining the mood, becoming more serious. "Now why don't you direct your attention back to the lady with the ice pick, tough guy."

Maura cleared her throat, drawing Lucas' attention back to her. "Now, we need to talk about Jane. We know exactly what you've done to her, and we know you can fix it. You can release her from her programming. Now are you willing to help us?"

Lucas' lip curled into a sneer. "I'm not helping you. She's mine, and I plan on keeping her!"

Maura's expression turned dark. "Yours? What do you mean she's yours?"

Lucas clearly didn't hear the warning in her voice, chuckling as he replied. "It was the arrangement I made when I agreed to be an agent. I'd work for them, she would be mine. I thought I'd lost my chance when she destroyed the place and disappeared, but then you gave her back to me. I never did get a chance to thank you for that!"

Maura practically snarled back. "And what made you think you had any claim on her?"

Lucas laughed in her face. "Because she needed to be taught some respect! She strolled around the district like she owned the place, and we all knew she wasn't that good! She just used her looks and her charm to get into homicide, and then mooched off other cops to make herself look good. She draws the attention of a couple of serial killers and she's suddenly the golden detective, Saint Rizzoli, can do no wrong! She thought she was too good for the rest of us, so she needed to be taught a lesson! And I did it! I brought her down to a more suitable level! She's nothing now!"

Maura felt large hands grab her and prevent her from lunging at Lucas. She spun angrily to see Korsak staring at her with warning in his eyes, cautioning her from making a reckless and dangerous mistake. She glanced over at Susie to see that Nina was restraining her similarly, both of their faces outraged.

Maura took a calming breath, concentrating on uncurling the fists she had unthinkingly formed. She closed her eyes, willing a veneer of serenity back into place, before looking at Korsak again. He nodded at whatever he saw on her face, releasing her arms and stepping back into his position. Maura could see his jaw clenching, and knew that despite his outward appearance, he was seething inside just like the rest of them.

Maura turned back to Lucas, his obnoxious smirk rankling her once more. "You need to understand how things stand, Agent Lucas. You have no claim on Jane Rizzoli. You never had a claim on Jane Rizzoli. What you have done is despicable, inhumane, and disgusting. You have completely destroyed her life, and your motivations are as ridiculous as they are abominable. You are a poor excuse for a human being, and you deserve worse than anything I could do to you."

Maura was about to continue when Lucas interrupted. "And why do you care so much? She was just your friend, why does it even matter?"

Maura stared at him in disbelief. "Just my friend? You think Jane was 'just' my friend?"

It was Lucas' turn to stare in disbelief. "What, were you two hooking up or something?"

Maura growled in anger before starting to speak, her shoulders tensing as she paced with barely suppressed rage. "What Jane and I had goes beyond a casual friendship. That was well known to anyone who spent more than a minute with us. But that does not mean that we were sexually involved."

She breathed for a moment, letting some of her anger go in favour of reason. "We chose to be each other's closest friend. She stood by me when I discovered my true parentage, whenever I doubted who I was, every time I needed support. I stood by her when serial killers wanted to destroy her by harming everyone she'd met, when the job got to be too much, when she needed someone but couldn't bring herself to ask. We saved each other so many times, in every way possible. We shared a bond closer than many married couples experience, because we knew we were each other's soulmates."

Lucas made a dismissive scoffing noise. "Soulmates? As if. You can't be 'soulmates' and just be friends. It sounds like you're in denial."

Maura stopped pacing and leaned in again, her anger returning quickly at his insulting tone. "Now this may be something that your misogynistic mind cannot comprehend, but for your own sake, please try. It is entirely possible for a person's most important relationship to be with their dog, or their mother, or their turtle, or their colleague, or even their best friend. A relationship can have meaning because the participants find something they needed, rather than something they thought they wanted."

Lucas looked completely confused, so Maura tried again to explain, using a more factual basis to lay the groundwork. "Human beings are capable of experiencing many different types of relationships. Our society tends to encourage us to conform to tightly defined norms, but the truth is that most relationships are more complicated than that. Some people engage in romantic relationships that have no physical component whatsoever, and are completely fulfilled. Some people's primary relationship is built entirely on attraction and satiation, but they feel no emotional connection to their partner. Some people never experience a paired relationship, preferring to love everyone in their lives unselfishly and with no expectations of exclusivity. We tend to honour and legitimise relationships built on attraction more than one based on mutual emotional connection, but the people involved in non-idealised relationships would say that their reality is more beneficial than one fitting cultural expectations. My friendship with Jane is the perfect example of a deep and pure relationship that most people just can't understand."

Lucas scoffed again, his expression still confused. "You're just trying to justify some weird fixation you have. I bet you've never had a real relationship, and that's why you're confused!"

Maura bristled, but gathered her thoughts, trying to make him understand. "I myself have engaged in relationships built on attraction, as I believed I would eventually find a partner that would fulfil me in other ways. However, the reality is that all my past romances pale in comparison to the connection I share with Jane through our friendship. That bond was built over years of shared experiences, of late night conversations, of dinners in front of the TV, of drinks at our favourite bar. We've been through traumas, both together and apart, and helped each other through it. We've had our disagreements, but each time we work out that we're better as a pair, and we get past it. It's not a simple pairing based on chemical attraction, or a casual friendship based on convenience. It is a complex emotional entanglement that has permeated my entire being, colouring the way I see the world, and the people around me."

Maura sighed, her yearning to have Jane back in her life stronger than ever. "I miss Jane terribly, with everything I have, and I have felt her absence since the moment you took her away from me. She is the reason I am the person that I am. She is the reason I get up in the morning and try to make a difference. She is the reason I care. She makes me brave."

Maura fixed Lucas with a steely gaze, conviction blazing in her eyes. "She is the love of my life."

Lucas looked bewildered, and glanced around at the others in the room. None of them blinked an eyelid at Maura's declaration, all of them staring back at him in full support of everything Maura had said. Susie looked particularly proud of her friend for putting into words the depth of the bond that she had observed for years.

Lucas turned to Korsak, the disbelief clear in his scoffed question. "You don't really buy that, do you?"

Korsak simply smiled back, the certainty clear in his voice. "I have no doubt that everything she just said is true. I've watched the two of them together for years, and I watched Maura after Jane was taken. I'd be very careful of what you say to this woman, since you're the one that took Jane away from her."

Lucas seemed to take that on board, and tried to tone down the disdain in his voice as he spoke to Maura. "Is that why she was listening to you in her Mode One state? Because you're best buddies?"

Maura had pondered that conundrum at length, and decided to answer, as much for her sake as to satisfy his curiosity. "From what I've read in your files, the techniques used to turn Jane's mind against her family and friends were specifically targeted to each individual, based on her depth of feeling for them. Since that information came from you, and you severely underestimated what Jane and I mean to each other, the treatments designed to make Jane think I'd abandoned her probably had the opposite effect. The images of me that you showed her were so incongruous with everything she knew about me, her mind rejected them as the subterfuge they were. She decided that I was the only one that hadn't abandoned her. She knows I could never do that, and she managed to hold on to the memory of our friendship and use it to protect some of her own personality, despite your abuse. I became the exception to all of your rules, the loophole that helped Jane stay sane no matter how hard you tried to break her."

Maura almost smiled as she remembered Jane wordlessly conveying that she still remembered her, that she'd never forgotten. "Somehow, in the midst of all the rewriting and confusion, her mind accepted me as another authorised handler. I always was one of the few people that could tell her what to do, and that may have been a factor in how her mind coped with the chaos. Her real feelings for me got mixed up with her programmed obedience to a handler, and when she saw me after escaping the facility, she followed my commands as she would any other controller. However, after a brief period of being exposed to familiar and safe experiences, her real self started to re-emerge. I believe she would have stopped blindly obeying my commands very soon, if you hadn't forced your mission activation onto her."

Maura paused, pushing down a surge of anger. "And when your damn program is no longer holding her hostage in her own body, she'll have all the time she needs to find herself again."

Lucas looked back at Maura, his confidence obviously shaken, but his pride still making him stubborn. "Well, I don't care what claim you think you have on her I'm the one she's bonded to, I'm calling the shots. And there's nothing you can say to make me let her go!"

Maura just shook her head sadly. "Well, that's a shame. Your cooperation was the easy way, but it's not the only way."

Lucas' face fell. "Yes it is! An agent has to be involved to cancel a mission! There is no other way!"

The smile that spread across Maura's face mocked him mercilessly. "Of course they wouldn't tell you about their fail-safe, it would make you nervous. But do you really think they trusted people like you enough to leave such a valuable asset in your control with no backup plan?"

Lucas' eyes narrowed, his expression showing how accurate that assessment was. Maura pushed her advantage. "There are actually three ways to end a mission scenario. One, complete the mission. Two, be ordered to stop by the assigned agent."

Maura grinned, spinning the ice pick in her fingers again as she turned to Susie. "Do you want to tell him the last possibility?"

Susie smiled at Lucas, wiggling the control box. "Three. Kill the assigned agent."

Lucas jerked against the restraints, shouting out denials as he instinctively tried to get free. He was panicked now, and desperate. His eyes flicked between his four captors, searching for any sign of weakness, and not finding any.

Maura was about to press their advantage, hoping to finally break him, when the roof above them caved in. She jumped sideways out of the way as beams and sheet metal fell haphazardly, cutting her off from Korsak and the others. She fell next to the electric plate, and she heard a loud thud as something heavy hit the deck.

Her head whipped up to see not-Jane crouching next to Lucas. He was frantically ordering her to get him out of there, his hands pulling against their bindings again. Not-Jane straightened from her crouch, snapping the restraint closest to her. Lucas grinned at Maura as not-Jane reached for the other one.

Maura screamed out as loud as she could, hoping the others were okay. "Now Susie! Hit it now!"

Immediately, not-Jane stiffened, an invisible current immobilising her and pinning her in place. Lucas froze, watching in horror as his rescuer was disabled. As the power shut off and the body beside him collapsed to the floor, his shock turned to bewilderment as he realised he hadn't been electrocuted.

Maura sighed in relief before getting slowly to her feet. She could hear Korsak checking on the other two with a calm voice, so it seemed as though everyone was alright. Her heart jumped into her mouth and her feet felt rooted to the ground as she looked at the crumpled figure lying not two steps away on the de-energised plate.

The nannite mask had vanished, leaving the bald and scarred woman Maura knew as the real Jane. She was moving restlessly, the electric shock inflicting some damage as expected, but Maura knew it would only take seconds for the healing nannites to repair her body. Maura felt her knees go weak in relief as she saw Jane raise her head, her brown eyes filled with thanks as they met Maura's.

Maura smiled happily for the first time since being shot, her voice choking up. "Jane? Is it you?"

Jane nodded, a small relieved smile appearing on her lips. She started shakily getting to her feet, her limbs still impaired after the electric shock. Maura heard Nina let out a cheer, with Susie and Korsak joining in, but she couldn't take her eyes off Jane.

Lucas looked at Jane in disbelief, his disgust clear in his voice. "But how? You said she'd only revert if I died…."

Maura couldn't help the smug grin spreading across her face. "We may have misled you slightly. There is a third way to deactivate a mission scenario, but you were right, the organisation wouldn't sacrifice their agents. A subject can be wiped of their current mission by an electric current set to a particular frequency and voltage. Fortunately, we were able to get the parameters from the records and rig up the transformers in this factory to deliver the precise shock that we needed. You were just the bait."

The look on Lucas' face was priceless, but Maura was too busy watching as Jane managed to get to her feet. She stood for a moment, getting her balance back, before shuffling towards Maura.

Smiling softly, Jane put out her hand, reaching for Maura's cheek, which was now shining with tears.

Suddenly Lucas snarled in rage. "Subject 163, activate the charge again!"

Jane abruptly jerked, her body going rigid under the assault of electricity. Maura screamed, her hand reaching out for Jane until she realised she couldn't touch her. Maura heard a crash from near Susie, and the current shut off. Maura lunged forward and tried to catch Jane, but the weight of her body surprised her and they both tumbled to the ground.

Lucas used the distraction to release his other restraints, leaping from the chair and breaking into a run away from his captors. He shot a scathing glare at Maura over his shoulder before he ran through an open doorway and was gone.

Jane was gasping and writhing on the floor, her body obviously damaged by the unplanned second shock. Maura was crying desperately, her hands cupping Jane's face as she twitched uncontrollably.

Nina rushed over, handing Maura a jacket to put under Jane's head. "Is she okay?"

Maura shook her head helplessly. "I don't know! What happened?"

Nina put a hand to her head in disbelief. "Susie. Somehow they got to Susie. When Lucas yelled that command, she hit the button again without hesitation. Korsak tackled her and she snapped out of it, she's beside herself with guilt right now."

Nina sighed in frustration. "She must have been a subject, but we didn't find her name in the files. We checked for all our names before we came up with this plan, I don't know how we missed it!"

Maura grabbed Jane's shoulders, which were starting to shake uncontrollably. "It doesn't matter now. We need to help Jane."

Nina nodded. "What can we do?"

Jane's eyes opened, meeting Maura's panicked eyes with a fearful but accepting look. Despite the tremors that were passing through her whole frame, she lifted a hand and gently touched Maura's face, brushing away the free-flowing tears.

The sweet gesture only made Maura sob harder. "I don't know!"

Nina realised that Maura was beyond panicked, and made an effort to speak calmly. "Okay, Maura, why isn't she healing? The nannites should have started to reverse the effects of electric shock by now."

Maura froze, realisation ploughing through her in an unstoppable soul-crushing wave. "The fail-safe. One shock disables the current active mission program, two shocks wipes the entire memory of the hub. It's a last resort in case a subject's nannite code is corrupted beyond repair and they need to reload the software from scratch. Oh, God, no, Jane!"

Nina didn't quite get it. "So we just need to reload the software, right? I think there was a copy of the code in Jane's file, I can get it."

Maura nodded, but her voice was still hopeless. "We have the software, but we also need a sample of untainted DNA from the subject prior to injection with nannites. The nannites subtly change a subject's genetic code, making it impossible to use as a baseline. We need a sample from Jane from before she was taken, or the nannite code won't work."

Nina's mouth fell open helplessly. "So…what do we do?"

Maura grabbed Jane's trembling hand, her eyes never leaving her friend's heartbreakingly resigned eyes despite the cascade of tears blurring her vision. She whispered quietly, her voice as defeated as her spirit. "I don't know."


	22. Chapter 22

Hi all!

Thanks as always to JaneyGWF for her beta services, go check out her stories!

Please let me know if there's something that pinged a heartstring or otherwise evoked a reaction, I love getting your feedback!

Enjoy!

* * *

Maura heard footsteps walking towards them, and realised Korsak and Susie were approaching. She raised her tear streaked face, seeing shock on Korsak's face and pure devastation on Susie's. The poor woman was obviously distraught as she knelt down next to Jane.

Maura grabbed Susie's hand, drawing her attention before speaking softly. "You didn't know, Susie. This isn't your fault."

Susie let out a loud sob, her courageous attempt for composure shattering instantly. "It is my fault! How could I not know! They had me in that place, they drugged me, they programmed me! How could I not remember? Jane, I'm so sorry!"

Korsak crouched next to her, pulling her into his chest gently but firmly. Susie resisted at first, revulsion and guilt plain on her face. Maura couldn't start to comprehend how violated Susie must feel, and was relieved when she finally crumpled into Korsak's arms. He whispered reassurances as she continued to sob, clearly past the point of reassurance.

Maura looked back at Jane, intending to check her vitals, and was surprised to see a pale hand reaching out for Susie's.

Susie jerked in surprise when she felt Jane's trembling hand touch hers. She pulled away from Korsak, leaning over Jane and grasping her hand tightly, her downcast eyes frantic and ashamed. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you, I don't even remember doing it, I'm sorry!"

Jane lifted her other hand, carefully silencing Susie's desperate ramble with a finger on her lips. When Susie finally stopped panicking and looked at Jane, she saw a slight smile ghost over Jane's lips.

Slowly, gently, Jane touched Susie's temple, then touched her own. Maura smiled as she understood the gesture, and put a reassuring hand on Susie's shoulder. "It's okay, Susie. She means that she forgives you, she knows exactly what you're going through."

Jane looked back at Maura with a smile, confirming that her interpretation was correct. Maura's smile turned into a worried frown when she noticed Jane was still shaking, though not as violently as before. She checked Jane's pulse, trying to assess the extent of the damage Lucas had done.

As Maura worked, Nina stepped forward, her voice subdued as well. "Jane, I want to apologise too. I don't know if you remember, but I shot you. A few times. And then I smashed you into a truck to get you off my car."

Maura frowned at her in confusion. Nina helplessly shrugged in reply. "There was a truck with a high enough wheel clearance crossing an intersection in front of me. I lost the canopy of my car, but it was the only way I could get rid of her without letting her kill me."

Maura nodded, understanding the cuts and bruises on Nina's upper body now. In the rush to get Lucas to the factory and set up their trap, she hadn't had time to ask how Nina had gotten away from not-Jane, she had just been grateful to see her in one piece.

Jane was looking at Nina in confusion, her face showing no sign of recognition. Maura realised the problem. "Nina, Jane hasn't met you since she came back except when her consciousness was being overridden by the program. She probably has no idea who you are."

Nina's eyes widened in realisation, before she looked back at Jane. "Okay, well, I'm Nina, nice to meet you. I'm sorry for hurting you, even though you don't remember it, and I'm going to try to help you, okay?"

Korsak moved into Jane's line of sight, his emotions being held back by sheer will. "And I'm Vince, your old partner. We're not letting you die, Jane, so don't you even think about giving up."

Jane still showed no sign of recognition, but her expression was slightly friendlier after hearing their reassurances. Her eyes flicked back to Maura, who nodded in encouragement, her hand finding Jane's again.

Susie sniffed, still miserable and hunched in on herself, before she cleared her throat determinedly. "Okay, we need a plan. How do we help Jane?"

Nina straightened up, realising she'd have to answer since Maura's face had just dropped into agonised sadness again. "We need to get a sample of Jane's DNA from before she was taken. The nannite program has been wiped from her hub, and I can reload the basic software, but Maura says we need a clean sample before the program will work."

Korsak and Susie frowned, both thinking hard. Nina moved to grab her laptop, finding the program in their files as she returned to Jane. Susie stood and walked a few steps away, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. Korsak let her go, realising she needed a moment alone, his compassionate face showing his sorrow over what she and Jane were going through.

Nina typed industriously on her laptop for a few moments, setting up the procedure, before bending over Jane and looking at her questioningly. "Jane, do you mind if I touch you? I need to press a few controls on your hub to get it to connect to my laptop. Is that okay?"

Jane looked at Maura in fear, her eyes asking for advice. Maura squeezed her hand reassuringly, nodding her assent.

Nina smiled as Jane pulled her ruined dress shirt out of the way, giving tacit permission. Korsak's eyes went wide as he watched Nina carefully feel around the small protrusion in Jane's stomach, her expression changing from concentration to victory as she found the controls she was looking for. Maura watched the procedure, trying to engage her mind and think her way out of this, but the despair that was threatening to crush her was preventing her usual intellect from functioning. All she could focus on was Jane's decreasing tremors, and the memory of her body locked in the throes of an electric current she had created. Instead of finding solutions, she was considering all the possible ways Jane could be dying. The electric shock could have caused burns all throughout her internal organs, the implants could be rejected by Jane's tissues, the nannites could have compromised her body's ability to oxygenate her blood, the foreign objects in her body could be slowly poisoning her….the list continued to grow the longer Maura considered, and she felt her breathing accelerate as she understood how certain Jane was to die if they couldn't help her soon.

Returning her attention to the screen, Nina typed for a few more minutes, before carefully placing the laptop on the ground next to Jane. "Okay, the program is loading. It'll only take a couple of minutes. I've set it up so that it'll activate automatically as soon as we input the DNA sample."

Susie surprised everyone by suddenly spinning around, her face lit up with an idea. "That's it! Statute of limitations!"

Four confused faces stared back at her. Korsak was the first to find his voice. "Um, Susie, nobody's going to charge you with anything, we all know…."

Susie stepped forward, interrupting him excitedly. "No, the statute of limitations for murder never expires! So we have to keep all evidence connected to a murder indefinitely!"

Nina looked between the others, seeing that they were all still lost. "Yes, true. This helps us because?"

Susie waved her hands in exasperation, her face still lit up in exhilaration. "Jane was a homicide detective! Her DNA had to be kept for comparison with evidence in case of contamination!"

Maura gasped, finally grasping what Susie was getting at and feeling hope flood through her again. "BPD will still have Jane's blood sample stored in evidence! Susie, you're a genius!"

Maura jumped up, grabbing Susie and hugging her frantically, before spinning back to Jane and grabbing her shaking hand again, gently pulling her into a sitting position. "Jane, we can save you! You're going to be okay!"

Nina's laptop pinged out a notification, accentuating Maura's exclamation perfectly. Nina grabbed the computer, smiling at the result displayed on the screed. "The program is loaded. All we need to do is get the sample!"

The air of celebration was suddenly pierced by an obnoxious ringtone. Four confused faces looked at each other, knowing that nobody had brought their phones, before Maura realised she knew the source. "It's Lucas' phone. Remember, we kept it so Jane could trace him here."

Korsak quickly moved to answer the phone, leaving the rest of the team looking at each other nervously. They heard him answer the phone with a brusque insult, then his steps as he returned to the group, holding out the phone to Maura. "He'll only talk to you."

Maura nodded, taking a deep breath before putting the phone to her ear, trying to reclaim the confident mask she had put on in front of Lucas previously. "What do you want?"

She could hear that some of the bluster had been knocked out of the repulsive man's voice, but the sound of it still made her skin crawl. "I want to trade Mr Rizzoli for Subject 314. You've had my property long enough, doctor, I want her back."

Maura couldn't help the scoff that left her throat. "How could you possibly think I would ever give Jane back to you? You are never getting near her again!"

Lucas laughed humourlessly in her ear, his patience for bargaining clearly gone. "She's damaged goods. She'll be dead inside six hours since you deactivated the nannites that were keeping her alive. Would you trade six hours with her for her brother's life?"

Maura's mouth fell open in shock as she spun to stare at Jane. She was still sitting, her eyes fixed on Maura full of resignation. Maura realised Jane had known what her prognosis was, the signs had been there since the second shock. Jane unequivocally expected to die, and soon.

Maura felt her innate stubbornness rising like a shield between her and hopelessness. In a moment of clarity, her intellect finally overrode her scattered emotions and made sense of the situation logically and dispassionately. She suddenly saw all the pieces align in front of her mind's eye, including missing ones that her grief and panic had obscured, showing her the only way out of this.

She abruptly turned away from Jane, needing all her concentration for the deal she was about to make. "How do I know Frankie is still alive?"

She heard rustling on the end of the line, then angry voices. After several seconds she heard a thump, and Frankie's voice blasted several choice curses into the phone. She suppressed the urge to yell back, keeping her emotions calm as she waited for Lucas to speak again.

He sounded much more confident this time, his one-sided power struggle with Frankie shoring up his ego. "Now, you know we have him. Are you going to make the trade, or do we kill him now?"

Maura made sure her voice shook and caught in defeat as she replied. "Okay, just please don't hurt him again."

Lucas laughed again, his characteristic cruelty shining through. "We'll meet in an hour, at Boston Common. I'll text you the coordinates."

Maura kept her voice high and frantic, hoping that a display of feminine frailty would hide her true purpose. "No, please, can we meet at BPD? In the morgue? Jane was always so happy there, she loved her work, I want her to be able to see it one last time."

For a moment Maura thought she'd underestimated Lucas' arrogance and oversold her performance, but then Lucas snorted, his obvious disdain over her perceived show of sentimental weakness his downfall. "You really want to meet on my home turf? You do realise all of BPD is looking to arrest you for evading arrest and engaging in a high speed chase?"

Maura's heart sank at the revelation that they were being hunted by the police, but didn't get a chance to react before Lucas smugly continued. "Fine, let's meet in the morgue. One hour from now. Just you and Subject 314. If I see any of your little band of misfits, Rizzoli will be dead before you can even breathe."

The line went dead as he hung up on her. Maura lowered the phone, her heart racing. She thought she had everything figured out, but if anything went wrong, it would be all over. The added complication of the BPD's pursuit was an unwanted addition, but she was sure she could work around it.

She turned to see four expectant faces looking back at her. The trust and belief in her judgement was heartening, and Maura desperately hoped that it was justified. Her actions over the last four years had severely tested the bonds of friendship with these people, and to know that, despite everything, they still thought Maura was worth following was hard to comprehend. She felt a great burden of responsibility at the knowledge that they may be following her to their detriment, but their belief gave her confidence in herself.

Maura looked down at her best friend, dying and defenceless, but fearlessly entrusting her entire being to Maura's care. Maura was almost overwhelmed with a surge of protectiveness and love, but she didn't let her emotions rise to the surface, needing to appear unflappable in front of the people whose lives she was about to endanger.

Maura felt a rsense of inevitability settle over her as she resolutely committed to her course of action. "I have a plan. Susie, can you sit with Jane for a moment please?"

She got an eager nod from Susie, who immediately moved over to Jane and started talking animatedly. She was obviously still aggrieved over her part in harming Jane, but was trying her best to present a brave face.

Maura gestured for the others to follow her across the room to speak privately. "Nina, can you please look into the records again and try to work out what was done to Susie? Lucas called her subject 163, so hopefully the record will be the right one, even though the name of the subject was apparently changed."

Nina nodded, picking up her laptop and typing frantically for a few moments. Maura and Korsak saw the moment she found what she was looking for when she huffed in irritation. "The subject name is given as Susan Long. Her occupation is given as lab technician, it didn't specify where she worked."

Maura realised the source of Nina's frustration, and seeing Korsak's confused expression offered an explanation. "Susan is a lengthened version of Susie, and Long is an English translation of Chang."

Korsak frowned, sharing their frustration at having missed the barely hidden clues that could have prevented the situation they found themselves in. "So what does it say about her conditioning?"

Nina had been reading quickly as Maura explained, and now had a cautious smile on her face. "There are no embedded programs or missions. Her conditioning was designed to make her follow any commands given to her after hearing her subject number, then forget everything she'd done once the command is complete."

Maura sighed gratefully. "So as long as we keep any agents away from her, she'll be okay. Alright, that makes the rest of the plan easier. This plan isn't fool proof however, and it will be dangerous. If anyone wants to be left out of it, now is the time to tell me."

Nina and Korsak both stared back with incredulous expressions for several moments before Korsak spoke. "Really?"

Maura couldn't help smiling gratefully. "I had to ask."

After a few minutes of conversation, Maura headed back to Susie and Jane. They were sitting in companionable silence, with Susie looking slightly more at ease. Jane still looked weak, her hands still shaking slightly and her skin pale and clammy, but she still glanced up fondly at Maura when she approached.

Maura smiled at Susie, gesturing for her to get up. "Can you please go talk to the others, they'll let you know the plan."

Susie looked instantly panicked. "What? No! You can't tell me the plan, I can't be trusted!"

Maura reached out, but Susie recoiled from her touch, her voice growing higher by the second. "No, I don't know what I'm capable of, I don't know what I'll do! You have to keep me away from everyone! I don't want to hurt you guys again!"

Maura placed a firm placating hand on Susie's shoulder, her tone warm and comforting. "You didn't hurt us. Lucas did that to you. He used you. We all know you couldn't help it. I actually want to apologise for not being able to protect you from this."

Susie looked confused. "How could you have protected me? We don't even know when this happened, I don't remember anything!"

Maura nodded sympathetically. "I know that, and I know it must be frightening and frustrating. I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now. But once this is all over, we'll figure out what happened, and hopefully that will help you find some peace of mind. For now, please know that we trust you, and we need you."

Susie looked slightly heartened by Maura's words, her mentor and friend's trust allowing her to regain some confidence in herself. Before she could second guess her actions, she lunged forward and grabbed Maura in a desperate hug. Maura returned the embrace with equal fervour, trying to reinforce the honestly of all the words she had just spoken. They pulled apart with matching smiles, both tentatively hopeful, before Susie walked away to join the others.

Maura turned her attention to Jane, who had been carefully following the conversation. Maura was painfully aware of the deadline they were bound to, which meant she had no time to soften the blow of the conversation they needed to have. Her agitation showed as she started to fidget unthinkingly.

Jane picked up on Maura's sudden discomfort, her hands curling into fists as she waited. Maura took a deep breath before sitting next to Jane and meeting her suspicious gaze. "Jane, we need to talk about Frankie. Do you remember Frankie?"

Jane's face contorted through multiple emotions, with fear, anger, confusion and hurt making their presence known. Maura reached out for Jane's hand, which didn't uncoil from the tense ball it had curled into despite Maura's attempt at comfort. Since body language was now Jane's only language, Maura knew her rigid posture and wary demeanour were practically screaming at her to back off.

Maura continued despite Jane's quickly assembled defensive wall. "Agent Lucas has Frankie. You probably don't remember, but Frankie saved us from Lucas, he made it possible for us to get away and try to save you."

Jane frowned in confusion, her body tensing even more. "Jane, we need to go and save him. Lucas has kept him alive, and he wants to trade you for him."

Jane's eyes bored into Maura, the angry accusation of betrayal readily apparent in her fierce glare. Maura grabbed for Jane's hand, which was snapped out of reach instantly. "Jane, wait, please listen! I know you remember Frankie torturing you, and I know you remember me and everyone else you've known abandoning you. But what I need you to understand is that all the bad things you remember are a lie!"

Jane was still staring at Maura untrustingly, her body leaning away from her touch. Maura sighed, realising she wasn't making herself clear, and decided to try a different tack. "Jane, do you remember when we were in the basement, before you were taken to the facility? Do you remember the bomb going off?"

Jane nodded cautiously. "Do you remember what you did? You pushed me out of the way, you protected me. You saved me."

Jane relaxed slightly, nodding again. "And then when I was knocked out, Lucas came. He tried to hurt me, and you stopped him."

Jane's hand instinctively moved to the scar on her chest, the reminder of the killing blow that Lucas had inflicted on her. Maura felt her throat constrict in guilt as she watched the gesture, but she forced herself to continue. "Yes, that's right Jane. Now do you remember what happened after that?"

Jane's brow furrowed in concentration, her expression confused as she stared into space, trying to order her thoughts. Maura gently grasped Jane's chin, guiding her friend's unfocused eyes back to her own. "It's hard to remember, isn't it? Time seemed to speed up and slow down, places and faces ran together, things seemed real one moment and then imagined the next."

Jane nodded, her attention intently focused on Maura now. Maura moved her hand to rest on Jane's cheek, hoping the physical contact would ground her and help in letting her recognise the false memories. "That's because you were drugged, Jane. Lucas and the people he worked with had you drugged from the moment you woke up. They took advantage of your confusion, and they tried to make you believe things that weren't true. The thing that you need to understand, is that none of us saw you again for four years. We were never there, we didn't talk to you, we didn't hurt you. Not your family, not your friends, not me. We were all frantically looking for you, but you were hidden from us by Lucas and his people."

Jane's expression was a heart-breaking mix of hope and disbelief. "I know it's hard to distinguish the real things from the false memories. But I can promise you that nothing you remember about being hurt by your family was real. You were never abandoned, you were stolen."

Jane considered Maura's words for several long moments, before her expression settled into stubborn distrust. Maura felt Jane's head jerk as she pulled her cheek away, and felt her heart sink at the prospect of losing Jane's trust.

Maura's voice started to waver as she continued, her pleas becoming more desperate. "Please Jane, try to remember. Think about the time before you were taken, what your family meant to you. Think about your mother fussing over you because she loved you too much to stop. Think about Frankie looking up to you and trying to be like you. Think about Tommy trying his best so he wouldn't disappoint you. Think about everyone at BPD depending on you and taking your lead. Do you remember?"

Jane frowned in confusion, her distrust fading as distress took over. She frantically shook her head, and Maura realised that Jane's mind had been so distorted that even her real memories had become clouded with uncertainty.

Maura reached out for Jane's hand again, and was relieved when Jane didn't pull away this time. She held their hands close to her heart, tears starting to appear in her eyes as she begged for some glimmer of recognition. "Do you remember me? We used to be best friends. We spent so much time together. You would often come to my house in the morning, and we would have breakfast before going to work. Or we would go out for lunch and talk about our latest case, usually seeing your mother and getting pulled into some kind of family drama. Or when something was bothering one of us, we would curl up on the couch and just talk for hours, until we were both laughing and having fun, and we'd forget that the world was cruel or unkind, and just enjoy being with someone who understood. We used to trust each other with everything, Jane. Please tell me that you remember me?"

Jane sat completely still in uneasy contemplation for several long moments. Maura could barely see her now past the fog of tears that had overcome her eyes, and she had no idea what Jane was thinking. She had gambled everything on the belief that Jane remembered her somehow, that the woman had not been crushed under the weight of the mental and physical torture she had endured as they attempted to turn her into a monster. If that assumption had been wrong, Maura knew it would crush her as well, and she might as well give up now.

Suddenly Maura felt a shaking hand touch her cheek and wipe away the stream of tears. She closed her eyes instinctively, unleashing more tears to roll across the trembling hand hesitantly brushing her face.

Maura felt the hand leave her face and panicked, but almost immediately felt another touch on her neck. She looked at Jane in confusion, and felt the first stirrings of hope when she saw a smile appearing in Jane's eyes.

Jane met her gaze with certainty, before directing her eyes to the spot she was touching on Maura's neck. Maura frowned, not understanding. Jane then moved her hand again, touching Maura's left calf. Maura frowned again before gasping in understanding and realisation.

She was revisiting all the scars on Maura's body, signposts of the events that had brought them closer together, and was pointing them all out in order.

Jane remembered her.

Jane's hand moved again, gently touching Maura's abdomen at the location of her scar from her kidney removal procedure. Maura couldn't hold in a sob of relief, her hand tightly squeezing Jane's where they were still twined together over Maura's heart. Jane smiled widely, squeezing back as she moved her other hand to touch Maura's leg where Lucas had stabbed her.

Maura nodded wordlessly, overwhelmed at the evidence that Jane remembered her. She saw Jane's face grow determined as her hand moved to the last scar, her left shoulder, where Lucas had shot her. Maura could see the anger in Jane's face as her fingers brushed carefully over the site of the wound, and she understood that whatever else Jane remembered, she knew that Lucas was responsible for a lot of Maura's pain. The resolve on Jane's face told her that Agent Lucas would be in serious danger the next time Jane saw him.

Jane's eyes locked with Maura's once more, and they shared a long moment of solidarity, acknowledging their past history, noting their past trauma and agreeing that they wouldn't be ruled by the demons of their past. They had always been an unbeatable team, and they would now stand together again.

Maura swallowed thickly, buoyed by their renewed bond but filled with trepidation over what they needed to do next. "I need to ask you something very important. Do you trust me?"

Jane didn't hesitate with her answering nod. Maura smiled in thanks, taking a moment to wipe her face clean of tears before asking the question she'd been building towards. "Do you trust me enough to put aside everything your mind is telling you, and believe that Frankie needs to be saved?"

At the mention of Frankie, Jane's face scrunched in distaste, her memories fighting against her desires, but she finally nodded reluctantly.

Maura couldn't temper the brilliant smile that spread across her face as she leaned forward, gathering Jane into a warm hug.

Her heart soared when she felt two trembling arms hug her back.


	23. Chapter 23

Hi all!

I am so sorry about how long this update took! Basically I got sick and my writing ability went on holidays without my permission. I'll try not to let it happen again!

I need to give a special thanks to JaneyGWF this chapter for her betaing efforts. The words you see here are the third attempt at this chapter, because the first two were dreadful (lesson learned: don't write when you're sick!) and she was honest enough to tell me.

Anyway, thanks for your patience, hopefully everyone is still on board, and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

The silence was deafening. The agreed hour was nearly up, and Maura had spent most of that time immersed in silence. Jane had been silent as Maura prepared for the exchange, her eyes giving away little of what she was feeling. Korsak, Nina and Susie had been silent as they hopefully did their parts. Maura had no way of knowing whether they were successful, she could only trust and hope. Her opponents had been predictably silent, leaving her to fret over their plans and intentions. She remained silent herself, not wanting to let Jane know how nervous she was.

Now as they approached the lane leading to the loading dock of the morgue, silence pervaded her consciousness anew. The usually bustling area was eerie in its emptiness. The absence of police, criminals, victims and other people suspiciously unsettling. The building that usually felt like her second home now felt like hostile terrain, owned by the enemy, made into something intimidating and dangerous.

But Maura had become accustomed to silence. It wasn't as frightening as it once was. She elicited silence from her colleagues after her breakdowns, and she had appreciated the peace. She had maintained silence in her home, waiting for Jane to come back and fill it with welcome noise again. And Jane herself was now silent, conveying everything she needed to with a glance or a touch. No, the silence wasn't a threat, it was a force of nature, one she had learned to harness.

Maura had one arm wrapped around Jane's waist, helping to keep her upright through her visible tremors. Jane had her arm slung over Maura's shoulder, her hand tangled in the sleeve of Maura's shirt. Her appearance didn't reflect any impairment to her health outside of the tremors, but her body language spoke volumes about how much she was relying on Maura to keep her moving. Their fingers were twined together, the familiar grip providing much needed comfort.

Maura reflected for a moment on how tactile she had become with Jane since her return. While Jane had little choice but to convey her feelings through movement and touch, Maura still had the option of speaking, but somehow she had started conversing with Jane in their own silent language more and more. She had realised that while her precious words could convey detail and information adequately, they fell far short of explaining her feelings when they ran as deeply as her bond with Jane. Despite their outward appearance of silence, the two were engaged in a deep conversation, with their alert eyes transmitting their tension, the rigidity of their backs telegraphing their fear, and the grip of their hands conveying their support and reassurance.

As they reached the entrance to the lane, Maura could feel Jane stiffen in her arms. She instantly reacted, pulling Jane closer as she scanned their surroundings for danger. She found it quickly when two agents stepped out in front of them, both with their hands resting on their unclipped guns. Maura gasped and instinctively stepped back, turning Jane with her, but stopped when she saw another agent behind them, closing rapidly.

A sinister voice sounded from behind them, and Maura closed her eyes in defeat. "Welcome, doctor. It's such a lovely day, I thought we could talk outside instead. The morgue is too morbid, don't you think?"

Maura turned them around to face Lucas, who was standing in front of the two agents, a smug smirk on his face. She didn't reply, the defiant glare conveying all her feelings far more succinctly than words ever could. Lucas didn't wait for an answer, instead motioning for the agents to grab the two women and manhandle them towards an alley a block from the station.

The two goons next to Lucas roughly grabbed Jane, holding her up by her arms and dragging her away from Maura. Maura gasped as she saw Jane's knees give way, with the agents simply hauling her along, allowing her feet to drag on the ground.

Maura started to lunge forward when the agent who had been behind Maura grabbed her arm and jabbed his gun into her side, hard enough to bruise. "Doctor Isles, please don't struggle. There is a silencer on this gun. If you attempt to make a scene, you will be killed. Do you understand?"

She shot a filthy glance his way as she reluctantly allowed herself to be moved after Jane.

As they entered the alley, Maura saw that a van was waiting for them, along with four other agents and two SUVs. The cars were all pointing towards the far end of the alley, the narrow space requiring them to be spread along the length of the street. Her breathing sped up as she saw a crumpled figure tied up in the back of the van.

Lucas stepped in front of her, blocking her view. "Yeah, he's there. He's alive."

Maura was trying to control her reactions, but still flinched as Lucas stepped closer, his repulsive breath washing over her face. "And we'll keep Frankie alive for a while too, he'll either make a good subject or a good bargaining chip."

Lucas' voice turned cold. "But you, doctor? I think I'm done with you."

Maura heard his gun slide out of its holster, but before he could lift his arm and point the gun another agent stepped in and grabbed his arm. Maura recognised this man, he was a detective in Vice, but she didn't know his name.

The agent was looking at Lucas angrily. "What are you doing? We are supposed to bring them all in for interrogation and reprogramming. None of them are to be killed. That means we have three more people to find, and you don't shoot the ones we have."

Lucas' lip turned up into a sneer. "Really? Do you think anyone's going to miss her? The crazy doctor that threw away her life looking for her dead friend? Come on, let me shoot her, she's too much trouble."

The other agent grabbed Lucas' gun. "Look, you're in hot water with the directors as it is. We almost got exposed because of you. Pull your head in, or you'll be the one getting reprogrammed."

Lucas was obviously furious, but he nodded stiffly, allowing the agent to walk away with his weapon. He shot a caustic look Maura's way before grabbing her roughly and propelling her towards the vehicle. He made sure to grab the shoulder that was still healing from his bullet wound, his fingers digging into the tender area painfully.

Maura, however, was working hard to suppress a satisfied smile as she was roughly manoeuvred towards the van, despite the pain Lucas was causing her. They had not only been observing Lucas and Jane while they were planning his abduction, but the other agents as well. It had been obvious that Lucas was universally despised, with the other agents barely tolerating his presence. In fact, they had suspected the only reason Lucas was still operating as an agent was due to his control over Jane. They had counted on the other agents controlling Lucas' bloodthirsty nature in the interests of keeping their own activities a secret. She knew that she had to ensure she silenced her own reactions, including the non-verbal ones, to avoid setting him off, despite the buffer of the other agents.

Jane had already been restrained, with cuffs around her wrists and ankles. She looked ready to pass out, her body sagging in the grip of the agents. The agents dragged her into the van and dropped her in the middle of the floor callously, her shoulder and leg hitting the ground heavily. As Maura was pushed against the back of the open van, she saw Frankie was awake and alert, a gag tightly secured across his face. He had a defeated look at the sight of Jane and Maura captured, and when Jane was dropped next to him he wriggled over to her. He seemed to be staring at her face, trying to understand how this scarred, shivering and defeated person was his sister.

Another agent that Maura didn't know tapped Lucas on the arm. After a few muttered words, Lucas stomped away to talk to another agent, shooting another angry look at Maura as he left. She returned it with equal fervour before turning her attention to the agent in front of her.

He was a remarkably average looking man, reminiscent of a stereotypical accountant. He studied Maura for several long moments, before speaking in a civil tone. "Doctor Isles, I want to extend our apologies for the treatment you've received from Agent Lucas. Our organisation aims to achieve our mission through efficiency and surgical operations, not through fear and intimidation of citizens. Clearly these goals have not been met in your case."

Maura had been determined to stay detached, but the agent's words were so unexpected that her mouth fell open in shock. "You're apologising?"

The agent remained emotionless as he continued. "Yes, I am. This all should have been handled much more cleanly, and with less emotional pain for all involved."

Maura could feel her control slipping. "How can you avoid emotional pain when your organisation is built around rewriting people using mind control and torture?"

He still didn't appear affected by her imminent rage. "It is true, our methods are harsh, but we aim to use the few to steer the course of the many. By harming and using certain individuals, like your friend, it is possible to direct the course of the entire nation. If we can choose the right governors, senators, even presidents, we can ensure the interests of the people are seen to in the most efficient way possible. We can ensure that factions who disrupt the smooth running of the country are cut off before they can become a threat. We aim to get the right people in the right positions so we can make the system better and get a more positive result for the majority."

Maura frowned at his implication. "So, who decides what is in the best interest of the people? The directors of your organisation?"

The agent nodded. "Of course. They are people who have a vision for the world. They understand the inherent problems within our society and can see the most efficient methods for solving them quickly. They are people who aren't afraid to go above the generally accepted limits of law and morality in order to achieve greatness."

Maura crossed her arms, realising there was nothing to be gained by engaging but unable to help herself. "Your apology isn't accepted. You abducted my friend and tortured her to within an inch of her sanity, you put everyone who loves her through hell for four years, and then you started a vendetta against me and my friends when we tried to help her. Not to mention the hundreds of other lives you have interfered with and destroyed for your own selfish reasons. I tend to doubt that the majority you're so worried about helping would think your methods are worth the price. I also doubt that the majority would agree on your definition of a positive result. No matter what you say to try to justify your actions, you are all monsters."

The agent continued to stare at her, the words seemingly washing over him with no effect. Maura could see that he bought the company line completely, and he would never believe anything different. He was practically a fanatic, but he hid his fervour under polite words and justifications, while his allegiance was to an organisation whose goal was to manipulate the very foundations of the way the world ran. She felt saddened to realise that she was speaking to a man who hadn't needed torture and drugging to become brainwashed by the ideas embodied by the sinister organisation.

Instead of responding to her furious statement, the agent continued as if she hadn't spoken. "We need to know where your companions are, so we can ensure the integrity of the organisation's security. Will you tell us where they are, or must we resort to more unseemly techniques of persuasion?"

Maura glared, her temper reluctantly receding as she managed to calm herself down. "Do what you want, I'll never tell you where they are."

He simply nodded and pulled some handcuffs off his belt. "No matter. There is no proof of the organisation's existence that they could possibly have obtained. Their capture can be delayed until after you three are taken to our new facility."

Maura frowned. "You have a new facility? You're rebuilding and starting again?"

The agent nodded again as he cuffed Maura's hands in front of her. "After Subject 314 escaped and released all the other subjects, an agent was dispatched to destroy the Boston facility and erase all evidence. The facility was becoming outdated in any case, so it is fortunate that we have another alternative available."

Maura's mind spun even as she tried to keep her face passive. She had always wondered why the facility had been so easy to infiltrate, with the information freely accessible. If the organisation had believed the facility to be destroyed, that explained how they'd gotten in without being detected.

Maura glanced over at Lucas when a further realisation struck. It had to have been Lucas that failed to destroy the facility, since he'd shown up there and pursued them alone, without backup except for Jane. If it was his original mistake that had allowed them access, he also wouldn't have informed the other agents that she, Nina, Frankie and Susie had been found there.

That meant that the organisation didn't know that all their files had been compromised. Suddenly the organisation's nonchalance about pursuing Maura and her colleagues made a lot more sense. She instantly understood the advantage this knowledge gave her, and knew that her silence was the most potent weapon she could want in this situation.

Trying to cover her shock, Maura grasped the first question that crossed her mind. "Why are you telling me all this?"

The agent smiled politely. "Because it doesn't matter. You can't escape, and within three hours you won't remember anything of the last two months. You'll simply wake up two weeks from now in a hospital somewhere, with no idea that you saw Subject 314, and no memory of the organisation. You'll return to your life as if nothing happened."

Maura gave the agent a blistering stare, then silently climbed into the van and sat next to Jane. She instinctively reached for Jane's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze and receiving one in return. She then looked at Frankie, meeting his questioning and pleading gaze with one of quiet confidence.

The agents seemed to be discussing their plans and were clustered around the vehicles. The agent who had spoken to Maura closed and locked the doors of the van, leaving the three of them alone in darkness. Maura shifted nearer to Frankie, carefully feeling for his face and removing the gag.

He coughed lightly for a moment before starting to whisper frantically. "Maura! What the hell is going on?"

She patted his shoulder encouragingly before settling against the wall next to him. "Well, you, Jane and I are handcuffed in a van, surrounded by the people who captured Jane in the first place."

Maura could practically hear his eye roll. "Yeah, I got that part. What's wrong with Jane?"

Jane started shifting around on the floor as Maura answered, her handcuffs clinking on the metal loudly in the enclosed space. "I was trying to disable the programming that was overriding her free will. Unfortunately Lucas managed to get the upper hand and wiped out all her programming, so the nannites that were keeping her alive stopped working."

Frankie sounded confused. "So, if she's sick, why would you bring her here? I could have found a way to escape! Or if not, I don't want you and Jane to end up dead or robots because of me!"

Maura patted his shoulder again. "Frankie, relax. It's all part of the plan."

She could hear the incredulity in his voice. "What plan?"

Maura listened for a moment, her senses confirming that the agents had spread out and moved away from the van. "This plan. Don't Speak."

Suddenly the doors were thrown open. Maura and Frankie looked up to see a determined looking Jane launch out of the van, pulling her handcuffs apart as she leapt with her immense strength. Several surprised shouts sounded outside the van, followed by the sound of Jane's fist finding vulnerable flesh.

Frankie's head whipped towards Maura in shock. "Maura?"

She simply smiled, showing Frankie the concealed handcuff key she'd retrieved from her belt and already used to free herself.

As she worked on Frankie's cuffs, she explained. "In order to help Jane, we needed a sample of her DNA from before she was taken. Susie came up with the idea of getting it from BPD, since they have to keep samples of all our DNA for comparison."

Frankie's cuffs fell to the floor, and they shuffled to the door to watch what was going on. Maura kept talking as she watched Jane grab an agent by the collar and toss him over the hood of an SUV. "While I was on the phone with Lucas negotiating a location for trading you for her, I realised I had also kept a sample of Jane's DNA at home, in a file, in case I ever needed to do a DNA comparison to identify her body."

Jane spun quickly, anticipating the frontal charge of two agents, both armed with hunting knives. She simply allowed the agents to stab her through the hands, enabling her to rip the weapons out of their hands and clobber them over the head with the handles.

Maura instinctively gasped at the sight, but restrained herself from jumping out of the van to help Jane, remembering that she still couldn't feel pain and her hands would heal in seconds. The sight of Jane's hands being impaled brought up painful memories, but it seemed that Jane wasn't bothered, remaining calm as she scanned the alley for her next targets.

Maura continued talking to distract herself from the stress of watching Jane fight alone. "I also realised that there was a good chance that Lucas would know what we needed to help Jane, and that he would assume we were trying to get the sample in Evidence if I asked for the meeting to be at BPD. He obviously did take the bait, because my house was clear of agents. While I got Jane here, Susie retrieved the sample and met up with us a few blocks away. We managed to restore Jane's healing nannites to full functionality, while still maintaining her scarred appearance so the agents wouldn't realise. She's been pretending to be dying so we could get captured, make sure you were okay, then escape. Oh, get down!"

Three agents had realised they weren't likely to subdue Jane in close combat and pulled their guns. As Maura and Frankie ducked back behind the door, all three agents opened fire on Jane, who simply crouched and spread her feet to enhance her balance, using the time to extract the knives from her hands and toss them aside. She patiently waited for them to exhaust their clips, the sudden silence in the alley potent after the cacophony of bullets. Maura cautiously stuck her head back around the door in time to see Jane quickly striding across to the agents, quickly dispatching them with three quick knock-out punches while they fumbled to reload.

Jane looked around the alley, finding two more agents in the second SUV attempting to turn it around and run. Maura continued her explanation as she watched Jane jump in front of the car and plant her feet against the gutter, grabbing the front grill firmly as the agents inside panicked and started spinning the wheels fruitlessly. "The plan was to try to get you alone, or at least away from any immediate threat. Then I would say the code words, 'Don't Speak', which would cue Korsak. He and Nina were supposed to be getting as much support from people we know to be clean at BPD and then coming in to back us up."

Maura and Frankie watched with a combination of amusement and wonder as Jane managed to tip the SUV over on its side, the wheels still spinning in mid-air. The agents were still panicking, and more shots sounded as they tried to shoot Jane through the windscreen. Jane again shrugged off the bullets and waited patiently.

Frankie shook his head in amazement. "So, Janie has super-healing nannites that let her get shot like thirty times? And she's strong enough to snap handcuffs and lift cars? And now that you got rid of her programming, she's back to being herself again?"

Maura's face fell slightly. "Well, not exactly. She has her free will back, but she was tortured and subjected to some of the most advanced mind control techniques in the world. She managed to get around some of their attempts to change her, but she will still have a long way to go once this is all over. I don't honestly know if she'll ever be the same again."

Frankie looked saddened as well, but smiled reassuringly. "At least she's better off than she was. She's got you now, and me, and ma, and everyone else to help her. I know she's strong enough to beat this."

Maura couldn't help smiling back. "I agree."

They looked back at Jane in time to see her drop the last agent to the ground unconscious. At the same moment, a team of BPD officers rounded the end of the alley and started moving in to secure the scene, weapons drawn. They seemed to be aware of the situation, since they weren't aiming at Jane.

Maura sighed in relief when she spotted Korsak and Nina amongst the second wave of officers. "There they are. And the officers aren't talking, good. We decided that was the simplest way for Jane to tell the agents apart from our people, since she most likely wouldn't remember anyone and we weren't sure what either side would be wearing. Besides us, Korsak and Nina, Jane will assume anyone with a weapon who is speaking is an agent and disable them. Hence, 'Don't Speak' being the code word for the sting. It seemed like the easiest way, since we were fairly sure that the agents would start yelling as soon as they realised Jane was about to return their hospitality with interest."

Frankie nodded his understanding, turning his attention to Jane, who had stepped away from the downed agents and was looking around the alley again, a frown making its way onto her face. She started moving towards the van, the unrest in her stance becoming more pronounced.

Maura glanced around the alley, quickly realising the source of Jane's concern. "Wait, where's Lucas?"

Her answer came abruptly in the form of a large hand reaching around the van door and grasping her throat. She barely had time to gasp before she was violently yanked out of the vehicle and held in an iron grip, immediately feeling the chilling sensation of a gun being pressed to her temple.

The alley went silent once more in breathless anticipation as Maura realised the plan had once again gone awry.


	24. Chapter 24

Hi all!

Welcome to the latest chapter!

Thanks to JaneyGWF for her betaing, you are awesome as always!

I just want to thank everyone for the support this story has gotten! It's officially passed the review count of Playing with Fire, which makes me ridiculously excited! I greatly appreciate every review that has been left, thanks to you all, especially the readers who have been reviewing consistently from the start.

Cheers for reading, I hope you continue to enjoy it!

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The officers reacted quickly, spreading out to get better angles and cover, all of them still remembering not to speak. Jane froze, her eyes locking on Maura's helplessly, asking for instructions. Maura hated that look, it told her Jane was slipping towards her passive drone state of mind, but she was completely unable to give Jane any reassurance in her current predicament. Her fingers were scrabbling at his to try to relieve the pressure on her throat, but his grip was too strong.

Korsak stepped forward, lowering his gun as he spoke to Lucas. "Give it up. Those files have been sent to every law enforcement agency within a thousand miles. Your organisation is done. You have nowhere to go. This is all over. Let Dr Isles go, surrender peacefully, and you'll get a fair trial."

Lucas simply scoffed. "Sure I will. Just stay out of my way, old man."

As he spoke, Lucas started moving towards the SUV furthest from the officers, behind the van. He had Maura pulled close to his body, ensuring she was shielding him completely from their line of fire. She could feel his breath lashing her ear as he pulled her along, making her flinch reflexively as she continued to choke.

The edges of Maura's vision started to grey out, but she kept her eyes locked with Jane. As she was pulled around the side of the van, obscuring Jane and the team of officers from her view, she thought she saw Jane take a hesitant step forward, but Maura couldn't be sure if Jane was taking action or just mindlessly following the only source of guidance she knew.

They quickly reached the SUV, and Lucas loosened his grip enough to turn Maura towards the door. "Open it, then get in the driver's side. I won't hesitate to break those pretty little fingers if you try anything."

Maura nodded breathlessly, her head spinning as air rushed back through her lungs. She fumbled with the door handle twice before managing to get it open, the weight of the door almost knocking her over. Lucas was still behind her, and grabbed her roughly before shoving her into the seat. He slammed the door and rushed around to the passenger side, giving Maura too few moments to breathe and try to focus.

Before she had time to think, Lucas was in the car and screaming in her ear. "Drive! Now!"

Maura nodded and somehow got the car moving despite her scattered thoughts. She automatically reached for her seatbelt, drawing a derisive scoff from Lucas as she clicked in the clip. They too quickly reached the end of the alley, Lucas indicating for her to turn right. Maura caught a glimpse of Jane standing in the alley, surrounded by running officers, staring after them helplessly as they turned the corner and sped out of sight.

Maura remained silent as she drove, trying to clear her mind and understand how this had happened. The plan had been going so well. Susie had gotten the sample from Maura's house with no impediment. They had managed to find each other in a secluded street several blocks from BPD. Jane's systems accepted the sample perfectly, and Maura almost cried when her friend calmly sat up, healed, and looked at her thankfully.

She had practically knocked Jane over with a frantic hug, joined seconds later by a relieved Susie. Jane had sat awkwardly inside the impromptu group hug, not quite knowing what to do. Maura had finally let go with a laugh, then pried a crying Susie off Jane reluctantly, since they had only minutes to get to the morgue. Susie had waved them away tearfully, her part in the plan complete. Since it was too dangerous for her to be anywhere near the agents, she would be leaving town until this was all over. Maura had desperately hoped that the rest of the day went as planned, if only so she could help Susie through the immense undeserved guilt she was still obviously feeling over her part in Jane's injury.

Maura had then managed to get them captured without suspicion. Jane had sold her weakness and imminent death superbly, while Maura had been able to avoid getting searched, which would have revealed the hidden handcuff key in her belt. Korsak and Nina had managed to get a team of officers together quickly enough. They had followed Jane's GPS signal to the alley, and Maura had given the cue to start the operation at the opportune moment. The police team had waited as agreed for Jane to disable the agents, since she could manage it without risking injury, and they had all remembered to remain silent to help Jane distinguish friend from foe.

Everything was going perfectly, until somehow Lucas managed to hide from Jane. It was almost as if he'd expected Jane to burst out of the van, since he was hidden well away from all the other agents in a perfect position to grab Maura when Jane was otherwise occupied. Maura recognised that she may have underestimated him. He presented a persona characterised by unoriginality and obedience, which was reflected in his files, but it seemed as though he had learned enough to see their plan, or at least suspect it.

She glanced over at the troubled agent, finding his expression furious and frantic. His eyes were flashing around the street as they drove, random mutterings leaving his mouth as he tried to think. Although he had been lucky and quick enough to grab her, it was clear that her kidnapping was the start and finish of his current plan. From the interactions she'd witnessed with the other agents, it seemed as though he had run out of allies and options.

With her head starting to feel less fuzzy after her near-asphyxiation, Maura decided to try to talk to him. Although she could see that his mental state was rapidly deteriorating, she hoped there was still a sliver of reason within the man.

She cleared her throat, assessing the damage Lucas had done to her throat with his crushing grip, but before she could attempt to speak Lucas started yelling again. "Shut up! Don't you dare talk to me! This is all your fault!"

Maura flinched away instinctively, the car swerving slightly as she moved. He pressed the gun into her shoulder painfully, his face manic and enraged. "Just drive! Don't even look at me!"

She nodded, too terrified to try to argue. He seemed to have become completely unhinged, his last shred of patience and reason stripped away.

Maura didn't expect Lucas to keep talking, but suddenly he was speaking again, his words calm and reflective in stark contrast to his previous outburst. "You know, I had a great life. I was a great soldier, I was a great SWAT member. I took down criminals and saved the day. I was a hero."

He glanced at Maura, obviously finding something in her expression other than the blind agreement he was after. "Yeah, a hero. You don't think I'm a hero, do you doctor?"

She didn't know whether he actually wanted an answer, so remained silent in an attempt to avoid provoking him. He leaned closer, scrutinising her face, before settling back in his seat, the gun still digging into her arm. "I can understand why. The victors never see the defeated as the heroes. The victors get to write the history books. Why do you keep beating me? Why can't you just die?"

Maura whimpered quietly in pain as he dug the gun in harder, his voice growing angrier the longer he talked. "Why, doctor? You were supposed to die in that building. I stabbed you, and you just wouldn't die. You somehow escaped, and spent the next four years making my life miserable. And then, when I almost managed to get everything I wanted, you managed to win again. I should have just killed you when I shot you, I should have ignored the others and just killed you. But no, you always survive. And I always lose. It's not fair!"

He sighed and pulled back, the gun still pointed at Maura. "So, here we are. I have nothing left. Either I give up, and I go to prison for life, or I don't give up, and I get shot. Great choices, thanks."

He sat up a little straighter, his expression suggesting he was having an epiphany. "Or I shoot you, and then I give up, and I still go to prison for life. But at least you'll finally be dead. Bit of a no brainer, really."

Maura finally looked at him. He seemed resigned, and was clearly about to finish what he'd started four years ago. Her eyes widened as she realised she was about to die.

Maura suddenly jerked the wheel to the left, throwing Lucas back into the door frame with enough force to make him fall half off the seat. She hit the accelerator, swerving the car through the oncoming traffic, off the street and into a construction site. The car crashed through a safety fence, then headed for a newly built concrete wall. Just before impact, Maura turned off the ignition to disable the airbags. She knew her only chance of survival was if Lucas came out of the imminent crash worse off than her, so she hoped that her seatbelt would be enough to save her from serious injury.

The impact threw Maura forward violently, her chest protesting as the belt locked, while Lucas flew into the dash shoulder first. The momentum of the car carried it through the wall and sideways into a pillar, the second impact sending the vehicle into an uncontrolled spin. The tyres squealed as Maura tried to regain control, but the car smashed into another wall heavily, the right side crumpling inwards as the wreck finally came to a stop.

Maura tried to breathe and instantly found herself coughing, her chest feeling crushed. The seat belt was cutting into her front painfully, and every spot it touched was throbbing. Her head was fuzzy again, and as she cautiously put a hand to her forehead she felt the sticky presence of blood. She probed carefully, finding a gash where her head had hit something.

Moving slowly, she twisted her head to look for Lucas. She saw his crumpled form still in the passenger seat, his arm sitting at an unnatural angle and blood streaming from his nose and cheek. As she watched, the man began to stir, groaning and shifting uncomfortably.

She instantly panicked, knowing that even injured he could still easily kill her. Her hand found the seatbelt clip easily, but the belt was jammed.

She slipped the top loop of the belt over her head, realising that the belt had locked with just enough room for her to squirm free. As she lifted her right leg, she felt a stabbing pain emanate from her ankle, but she ignored it and worked herself free in seconds. Her head was spinning wildly from a combination of the concussion she suspected she had and the pain of forcing her injured body to move, so she paused and took a moment to breathe.

Glancing at Lucas again and realising he was about to wake up, she frantically grabbed for the door handle and shoved with her shoulder. By some miracle, the door opened without protest, making Maura fall out of the vehicle ungracefully and painfully. Her ankle screamed again, but she resolutely pushed the pain away and struggled to her knees, crawling away from the wreckage as fast as possible.

She made it to a nearby pillar and crawled behind it before allowing herself to rest. She glanced around the dark room, realising they had crashed into the lobby of what looked to be a hotel under construction. The walls were all in place, as were the concrete structural pillars positioned around the room, but the floor and walls were still bare concrete, with various tools and materials scattered around the space. She took a moment to be grateful that they hadn't crashed through an occupied building before gathering her strength to continue crawling away.

As she reached the next pillar, halfway to the front wall they had crashed through, she heard Lucas regain consciousness with a bellow of pain. A string of violent cursing followed, which made her whimper and huddle behind to the pillar. She realised that if he was able to walk, he would be able to catch her, since her ankle was clearly broken and useless. She pulled her limbs in close to her body, deciding to hide and hope that their backup found them before he found her.

She closed her eyes and focused on steadying her breathing. It quickly slowed from the breathless panting she had been doing involuntarily, allowing her to hide in the blanket of silence and darkness.

Lucas seemed to have extricated himself from the car, as she heard another string of curses and a loud thump. There was more shuffling, presumably as he regained his footing, and a chilling click as he checked his gun and readied it.

Lucas started laughing, his voice gaining an edge of insanity as he began moving. "Come out, come out, wherever you are, doctor! Don't play hide and seek, it's rude!"

He continued to laugh, his steps sounding shaky but inexorable as he moved through the echoing room. "Come on, you're too polite to be rude! You're prim, and proper, and fancy, and rich, and a BITCH!"

Without warning a gunshot echoed through the space, making Maura jump. She clapped a shaking hand over her mouth to dampen the sounds of fear that threatened to escape. After a few seconds she realised she wasn't dead, and there was nobody else in the room. Lucas had apparently fired at nothing, probably trying to scare her into revealing her position. The knowledge that she was still undiscovered didn't prevent violent tremors of terror from cascading through her aching body.

The room was silent for a moment before Lucas laughed again. "Aw, come on, don't be like that! Look, I'm sorry, I'll put the gun away, and we'll talk about this. You like talking, right? It's all you do, talk, talk, talk."

Lucas sounded like he was getting closer, and Maura was on the verge of panicking. Opening her eyes, she could see a shaft of light which showed her the path to the outside, but she knew she'd never make it before he found her. She didn't want to die like this, crumpled against the bottom of a pillar in a random construction site, but her body had betrayed her, and she found herself out of options, out of hope, and out of time.

Without warning, he stepped around the pillar she was hiding behind, a grim look on his face. "There you are. My great nemesis, helpless and alone. The genius doctor, brought down by a simple car accident. By a simple guy."

He sighed dramatically, pointing the gun at her face. "Any last words, doctor?"

Maura thought about everyone she would like to say goodbye to. She wanted to thank Angela for being a second mother to her. She wanted to make sure her parents knew she loved them. She wanted to tell Hope and Cailin that she wished she could have known them better and built a real relationship. She wished she could talk to her team at BPD and make sure they knew they were the best group of colleagues she could have asked for. She yearned to tell Vince, Nina and Susie how much their support and help meant to her. She wanted to tell Frankie that she was sorry for ever doubting him, and to look after his sister.

And Jane…she had so much to tell Jane. She had everything to tell Jane. She wanted to be there for her, to help her recover, to watch her reclaim her life, to witness her reuniting with her family. To thank her for the wonderful life Maura had experienced because of her. To tell her that despite the cost, Maura would have done it all again to save her.

But all her words were for the people she cared for. None of them were of hatred, or defiance, they were all of happiness and love.

So Maura, for once in her life, had nothing to say. She simply shook her head, closed her eyes and let a single tear roll down her face with a resigned smile.

Instead of the expected gunshot, a thump and a clatter were followed by a scream of pain.

Maura's eyes snapped open in amazement. She saw Jane holding Lucas' arms behind his back, her arm blades extended after using them to knock the gun out of Lucas' hands. He was struggling to pull away from her. A few drops of blood trickled down his arm, but it looked like Jane had been aiming for the gun, not his fingers. Jane's eyes were locked on Maura, frantically asking if she was okay, and despairing as she took in the blood covering Maura's head and the shallow breaths she was straining to take.

Maura gasped at the sight of Jane protecting her. Somehow Jane had overcome the blockades of her brainwashing and decided to rescue Maura, without anyone ordering her to do it. Maura tried to speak, but her throat had closed over and she was finding it hard to breathe, her chest feeling tight and heavy.

Her eyes were drawn to Lucas as he shook the drops of blood off his hand. He glared at Maura with murder in his eyes, still violently struggling against Jane's iron grip. "Let go and get out of my way, Subject 314! That's an order!"

Maura's eyes snapped to Jane's. She saw her shoulders slouch as the indoctrination compelled her to obey. Her hands lost their grip on Lucas, allowing him to stumble away. He grinned victoriously, clumsily drawing his knife and turning to face Maura.

Jane hadn't taken her eyes off Maura. The scarred and pale face showed the depth of the battle she was waging within her own mind. Maura could see the strain as Jane desperately tried to hold on to her sense of self, fighting to ignore everything she'd been conditioned to believe for four years and remember the woman she once was.

Maura wished she could speak, and reassure Jane when she needed to hear it most. She knew there was such boundless strength within her friend, if she could only believe it and overcome the insidious thoughts that had been forced upon her. Instead, Maura smiled reassuringly as Jane's searching gaze scanned her face, conveying all the trust and support that had always been a part of their friendship.

Jane's expression turned questioning, almost asking permission to believe in herself, to allow herself to accept Maura's certainty as her own. Maura nodded, and mouthed 'Jane', hoping to remind her that she was not a subject, she was a person, one who was sorely missed and loved.

Maura saw the moment Jane won, and gasped as she saw her Jane emerge from the confusion and doubt, the confident wry smile telling Maura everything she needed to know.

A determined mask spread over Jane's face as she stepped defensively in front of Lucas and pointed her blades at him warningly.

He stopped his approach, looking at Jane in disgust. "Move! I'm ordering you to get out of the damn way, you pathetic robot!"

Jane simply widened her defensive stance. "No."

Lucas' shocked face mirrored Maura's as they heard Jane speak, breaking the most impenetrable barrier in her mind and overcoming her greatest fears. Maura smiled uncontrollably, overjoyed at the clear sign that Jane had won her mind back. The surprised expression from Lucas only lasted a moment, rapidly deteriorating back into rage as he realised that Subject 314 was gone and only Jane was left.

With a manic wordless cry, he charged towards Maura, ignoring Jane, his knife lifted above his head. Jane barely had time to brace herself before his body crashed into hers and forced her backwards towards Maura, who threw her body to the side as they barrelled towards her.

Concrete chips rained onto Maura as their bodies hit the pillar. She shut her eyes reflexively as her shoulder hit the ground, sending a wave of pain rippling through her whole body. Trying to frantically gasp in some air, she forced her eyes open again fearfully.

Lucas coughed weakly, blood trickling from his mouth. He pushed back from Jane, who was still leaning on the destroyed pillar, a surprised look on his face, the clean knife falling from weak fingers. He staggered back a few steps, attempting to glare at Maura again, but his eyes were glazing over and his stare lacked any bite. He closed his eyes, frowning in exasperation and defeat, before collapsing to the ground and lying still.

Maura's eyes lost focus for a moment when she realised Lucas was dead. He had impaled himself on Jane's blades, almost as if he didn't care about his own survival any more. After hearing his enraged and manic ranting, it seemed probable that he hadn't.

Her eyes snapped back into focus, but it felt like she was staring down a long tunnel. Two worried eyes were at the end of it, a welcome sight. Maura felt a warm weight on her face, and realised Jane was touching her cheek again. She tried to smile and return the gesture, but the inexorable pull on towards unconsciousness was too strong, and she helplessly allowed herself to drift into the silence.


	25. Chapter 25

Hi all!

Ok, sorry if anyone thought the last chapter was THE last chapter. Nope. I'm not that mean! For the record, this one isn't the last either. But we're nearly there.

Thanks as always to my lovely beta JaneyGWF, who has been showing off her artistic skills lately! Many talents!

Enjoy!

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Maura stirred. Everything felt heavy, as if there was a weight sitting on her chest and holding her captive in the dark. She tried to breathe, but her throat was unresponsive. She could feel foreign things invading her neck, clamped to her skin and piercing her flesh. She flexed her hands, relieved to find them functional, then quickly grabbed for the invasive unknown object on top of her.

As she moved, she felt steady hands grabbing her wrists, preventing her hands from exploring. She tried to scream, but her voice seemed to be gone. She tried to sit up, to shrink away from her captor, but the hands moved to apply a firm pressure to her shoulders, keeping her still.

Maura was trying to force her eyes open, to see where she had been taken, when a low voice whispered next to her ear. "You're okay."

The voice drifted over her murky mind, immediately triggering a terrified response. Her body thrashed to get away as she vividly remembered being held down, her mouth covered, unable to scream, as strong fingers pressed into her wounded shoulder.

The voice sounded again, more insistent and panicked. "Maura! Please stop! You'll hurt yourself! You're safe, nobody will hurt you!"

A sudden burst of adrenalin brushed away the lingering effects of the painkillers. Maura realised she recognised the voice, that there was no threat posed by the owner of that voice. She immediately stopped struggling, her eyes springing open in shock. Jane was leaning over her, her face worried, her hands carefully holding Maura still. They were in a hospital, surrounded by machines and sterile white surfaces.

Maura instinctively shrank away from Jane, the memory of the torture she had endured still too strong to casually dismiss. Her fear remembered not-Jane towering over her too well, and it was difficult to shake off this close to the edge of unconsciousness.

Jane seemed to understand, releasing Maura's shoulders and moved them back to Maura's hands, gently clasping them as she waited patiently for Maura's terror to subside. Her worried expression combined with the soothing gesture was enough for Maura to start to separate the visions of past traumas from reality.

As Maura relaxed slightly, Jane did as well, releasing Maura's hands and moving one hand to her cheek instead. Maura calmed further at her touch, finding comfort in the now familiar gesture. Her emotions finally caught up with her mind, acknowledging that this was Jane, her friend, not not-Jane, her torturer. Maura covered Jane's hand with her own, needing to feel the gentle touch in order to settle her thoughts and flight instincts.

As her thoughts settled, one shining realisation leaped to the fore. She was alive, Jane had saved her, and Jane was here. Jane was alive. Jane was free.

Maura grinned widely, her grip on Jane's hand tightening as she basked in her presence. Jane returned the smile, the worry on her face being replaced by relief and happiness.

After an unknown length of time, Maura felt calm enough to try to breathe and speak, but realised her throat was unresponsive. Jane saw the questions and imminent panic in her eyes and leaned closer to speak. "You weren't breathing."

Jane tapped her own throat, just above her clavicle, and Maura realised what she meant. Lucas must have caused enough damage to her throat to require a tracheostomy to get air past the blockage. Maura carefully ran her hands over the site, finding an attachment to a ventilator. Understanding why she couldn't breathe normally, she relaxed slightly, before looking back to Jane again, this time with thanks in her eyes.

Jane simply smiled, her relief at seeing Maura awake and calm evident in her expression. They stayed in the moment contentedly for a few minutes, neither feeling the need to break the silence, their hands finding each other comfortingly.

Of course, the outside world didn't have the same patience. A nurse breezed into the room with a casual demeanour, walking over to the machines monitoring Maura and noting down readings before she frowned. Her head whipped around to note Maura's open eyes, her mouth forming a surprised 'oh'.

The nurse checked the readouts again, bustling with more purpose, before manoeuvring around Jane to check Maura's breathing tube. Maura found it telling that she didn't ask Jane to move out of the way, instead simply working around her as if she was an immovable fixture.

After the check of the breathing tube was complete, the nurse moved on to Maura's head. Maura hadn't thought to ask about any other injuries, but now she remembered the heaviness in her chest, the blood on her face and the pain in her ankle. Sure enough, when she tried to lift her foot, she felt the weight of a cast weighing it down.

The nurse finished fussing with a bandage on Maura's head, nodding in satisfaction. She finally met Maura's questioning look, and realisation flashed across the woman's face. "Oh, I'm sorry, you probably have no idea where you are! Miss tall, dark and silent here wouldn't have been any help at all! I'll send the doctor right in, and I'll let your friends know that you're awake."

Before Maura could react, the nurse swept out of the room. Maura stared after her for a moment, before turning another questioning look Jane's way.

Jane frowned for a moment, seeming to struggle to answer, before meeting Maura's gaze seriously. "I trust you. I don't trust them."

Maura frowned in confusion, before thinking through the implications. Jane had a deep, ingrained fear of speaking because of the conditioning she'd experienced. She had a well reinforced link in her mind between speech and the most painful punishment imaginable. It had been the first stage of her indoctrination, and it was the most prominent aspect of her conditioning.

Maura realised how much courage it had taken for Jane to speak, especially in front of Lucas. Jane had known that Lucas was one of the handlers that had the power to punish her, and probably expected to be punished for that one 'No' that she had uttered when she defiantly stood between him and Maura, but she had managed to say it anyway. Protecting Maura had been more important than her fear, and more important than the pain it might cause her.

However, Maura also realised that just because Jane had overcome her fear in that moment, it didn't mean she would suddenly return to her old self. The fear of reprisal still existed in every fibre of her being, and would most likely be there for the rest of her life. The nurse's reactions suggested that Jane had been silent towards everyone else, as well as most likely ignoring any instructions or questions they had uttered. The fact that she was able to speak freely to Maura now revealed the deep level of trust between them.

Before Maura could react to her realisations, she heard footsteps at the door. She gently tilted her head to see who it was, expecting either the doctor or one of their friends. Instead, a uniformed officer stepped inside the room and took up a guard position next to the door.

Maura looked back at Jane with a frown, not understanding why either of them needed a protective detail. Jane simply rolled her eyes in exasperation, the expression hidden from the officer since Jane was facing away from the door.

Within seconds of the officer entering the room, a young looking doctor rushed into the room, seeming flustered. He took in Jane's position next to the bed and sighed, reacting as the nurse had and crossing to the other side of the bed to work around Jane rather than addressing her and asking her to move. As he started to test her reactions with a light, Maura couldn't help smiling at how Jane's stubbornness had become well known to all the staff after only…

Maura frowned as she realised she didn't know what day it was, or how long she'd been here. She looked at the doctor, who had finished with the light and was now checking her torso, and grabbed his wrist, meeting his surprised look with a demanding glare.

He gaped for a moment before remembering himself. "Sorry Dr Isles, I've gotten so used to the quiet in this room. Has anyone filled you in on what happened to you?"

Maura mouthed 'no' and patiently waited for him to continue. "Ah, my apologies. Okay, first of all, you've been asleep for almost three days. You were brought in with severe swelling to your throat, which required a tracheotomy in the ambulance on the way here. You also have bruised ribs which restricted your ability to breathe even further. You have a cut on your forehead which required stitches, and you have a broken ankle."

Maura blinked, thinking through the implications of her injuries. As if reading her mind, the doctor continued. "We need to keep you here for at least a week to monitor your chest injuries and to ensure you don't get an infection. Once the swelling in your throat heals, we can check for any permanent injury. If everything goes according to plan, we should be able to get the tracheostomy out and have you breathing normally before you leave. At this stage all your scans look clear, but we'll be able to see more in a few days."

Maura blinked again, and the doctor seemed to take that as an acknowledgement. "Okay, I think that's all you need to know from me. I think you have some people from the police who want to speak with you, so I'll leave you to it."

Maura watched in some disbelief as the doctor walked out, surprised by his brusque bedside manner. In fact she wasn't finished with the conversation, she needed to know her recovery plan, what her long term consequences might be, what drugs she had been given to know if there was any addiction risk, plus a multitude of other information. As it was, she still felt like she had very little idea what her condition was, and she also felt like she had minimal control. The doctor hadn't been rude, exactly, but his desire to ensure she was comfortable and informed left a lot to be desired, and as soon as she could talk, she would be telling him just that.

Fortunately, a familiar face entered the room as the doctor left. Maura smiled when she saw Korsak, followed by Nina and Susie. They were all grinning widely, Susie practically bouncing towards her bedside. Korsak stopped to ask the officer to step back outside before he crossed to the bed as well.

Susie spoke first, her excitement and relief evident in her huge smile. "Maura! You're okay! Are you okay? Do you need anything? Are you in pain? Should I get the doctor back? Should I stop talking? I'm talking too much. Sorry. Are you okay?"

Nina nudged Susie gently, grinning in amusement. Maura smiled back, just thankful to see them all safe. The fact that Susie was there rather than still hiding in another state boded well, but she needed to know what had happened with the rest of the plan before she could completely relax.

Korsak was standing next to Jane, smiling at her and Maura. He reached for his pocket, retrieving his notepad and pen before leaning over to give them to Maura. "I suspect you might need this more than I do."

Maura smiled in thanks, quickly grabbing the pen and scribbling a question. _What happened after the alley? Are we safe?_

Nina saw the question first, a satisfied smirk appearing on her face as she answered. "Oh yeah, we're all safe. The organisation is definitely finished. I managed to get the files out to all the law enforcement agencies we agreed on, and every single agent, sponsor or director of the organisation was arrested within three hours. Some of them didn't come quietly, and they were killed while resisting arrest, including our Deputy Superintendent. Their new secret laboratory was raided, since one of the agents tried to cut a deal and gave up everything. We have all their equipment, positive identification and confirmed capture on every single person involved, and the names of all their victims. Don't worry, we recorded the footage of the governor being dragged out of his office in cuffs for you to watch later. It was pretty entertaining."

Korsak chuckled at the memory. "Yeah, if you thought a powerful guy like that wouldn't cry like a baby, you'd be wrong!"

Susie grinned and joined in on the story. "There was a big story on the news detailing the capture of all the big players. Everyone we sent away for their safety contacted us, and they've all come back to Boston. It's definitely over! We won!"

Maura smiled widely, the expression mirrored by everyone else, including Jane. The relief that washed through the group was liberating, after such a long ordeal. Korsak gave Jane a sideways hug, which Maura was amused to see Jane begrudgingly allow. Nina and Susie could barely contain themselves, their mirth completely contagious. Maura happily grabbed everyone's hands, a firm squeeze the best substitute for a victorious hug that she could manage.

After a few moments of shared happiness, Maura frowned as another question entered her mind. _Why is there an officer outside?_

Everyone's smile dimmed at the question. Korsak lost a brief but silent battle of wills with the others and reluctantly answered. "It's to do with Lucas' death."

Nina quickly interjected before he could elaborate. "Please don't freak out and try to jump out of the bed."

Maura rolled her eyes, but mouthed 'ok'.

Korsak looked wary, but continued hesitantly. "Basically, after we lost you and Lucas in the alley, Jane took off after the SUV. She sure can run, she was almost keeping up with the traffic as she chased you. She lost sight of you, but managed to get lucky and find you again. We could see you on a traffic camera crashing into the construction site, and we saw Jane follow you in there a minute or two later. After that, we don't really know what happened."

He paused, not wanting to voice the facts and the obvious conclusions that could be drawn from them, but knowing Maura needed to understand. "All we know is you were almost dead when we followed Jane's GPS to the building, Lucas was dead, and his blood was smeared all over Jane's arms."

Maura's expression must have looked thunderous, because Nina and Korsak both put a restraining hand on her shoulders to stop her lurching up from the bed.

Susie frantically tried to calm things down. "It's okay! We all know neither of you would have killed him on purpose, and everyone saw Lucas kidnap you at gunpoint, so they don't seriously think Jane did anything wrong! Cavanaugh just had to cover his bases so it doesn't look like favouritism, at least until you woke up and we could get your statement! As you can imagine, they couldn't get Jane to say much. Or anything. Or even nod."

Maura looked at Jane with a disapproving look, which was answered with a nonchalant shrug. Nina saw the exchange and decided to try to explain. "Jane wouldn't leave you. She's been a fixture here since you were brought in, and she refused to even acknowledge anyone other than us. She was just making sure you were okay."

Maura's glare softened instantly, and she understood. She was the only person Jane felt safe around, so it was no wonder she wouldn't talk to strangers or do as they asked. More than that, Jane most likely felt that she had failed to protect Maura from Lucas, and wasn't willing to take any further chances.

Maura scribbled furiously. _ I'll write down a statement. Can you get me a bigger notepad?_

Korsak nodded and stepped away from the bed. "I'll go call Crowe, he's the lead on Lucas' death. If you give him your statement hopefully you'll only have to do it once."

Maura really wanted to be able to groan in exasperation, settling for an eye roll instead. Jane smirked at her reaction, the others echoing the sentiment. Crowe might not have been part of the organisation, but he was still a pain.

Maura looked up at Jane again, who was still hovering protectively next to her bed, and couldn't help a contented smile. Despite the pain and anguish they'd been through, they had succeeded. Jane was okay, or at least she would be.

Even though she'd only just woken up, Maura suddenly felt tired again. She supposed the panic and adrenalin she'd felt when she first awoke must have worn off, leaving her drained. She realised her eyes were drifting closed, and reached out for Jane's hand, needed to feel her nearby.

Jane realised what Maura wanted and grasped her hand happily. She glanced at Susie and Nina, who got the hint and quietly moved to the door, waving silently at Maura as they left.

Maura managed a weak smile in return, before pulling Jane's hand close and allowing her eyes to close. She felt Jane lean over her carefully.

"Sleep. I'll be here."


	26. Chapter 26

Hi all!

I apologise for the wait once again. I'm finding it harder to write these last few chapters! But we're nearly there, as you've probably guessed! (but we're not there yet!)

Special thanks go to my awesome Beta JaneyGWF this chapter, not only for the excellent work on the chapter as always, but also for the new cover image for both this story and Playing with Fire. I love them, and I hope you guys do too!

Enjoy!

* * *

Maura stirred again, this time to the sound of agitated voices. No, only one voice, a male voice, apparently arguing with himself. Or someone who wasn't replying.

_Oh…_

Maura cracked an eye open reluctantly, her vision confirming her suspicions. She could see Jane's back, standing firm between the bed and an angry visitor. Maura realised she recognised the irritated voice as Detective Crowe's. Around Jane's still form, she could see his arms waving as he tried to get his point across.

"Rizzoli, move! Korsak called me and said she was ready to give her statement! The sooner she does, the sooner you can be cleared as a murder suspect! What part of that don't you understand?"

Maura smiled in amusement as Jane slowly stepped closer to him, lowering her head menacingly as she backed him away with merely her stare. Crowe stepped back towards the door, his eyes darting to Maura in consternation, his irritation growing when she met his glance with amusement.

"Look! She's awake! Now let me past!"

Jane spun around, acknowledging that Maura was awake with a small private smile. Their eyes locked and communicated wordlessly, Maura answering Jane's concerns about her being ready to see him. Once Jane saw the affirmative response, she smiled again before replacing it with an annoyed scowl. She then turned back to Crowe, giving him another steely glare, before backing away and allowing him to approach the bed.

He warily stopped a few feet away, his eyes flicking suspiciously between the two women, and held out a pad of paper and a pen. "Korsak said you were ready to give your statement."

Maura took the pad, readying the pen and looking at Crowe expectantly. He looked confused for a moment before he apparently remembered that he was supposed to ask questions. "Oh, right. Uh, please tell us everything you remember about the day Detective John Lucas was killed. Don't worry about the background information about the organisation he was working for, just give me the events leading directly to his death."

Maura shared a look with Jane, both rolling their eyes, before she started writing, ensuring she thoroughly recounted each event. Crowe shuffled his feet uncomfortably, still shooting nervous glances at Jane every few seconds.

Maura could understand his uneasiness, since he'd never been particularly kind to Jane. She suspected that Jane's ability to chase cars and bend metal doors was probably common knowledge within BPD by now. Between that background information and Jane's bald and scarred physical appearance she cut quite an intimidating figure. The unblinking, unimpressed watch she was keeping on the unwelcome detective was also unlikely to be contributing to his mental comfort.

Maura managed to contain her amusement for the half an hour it took to write out her statement. She had outlined every detail except for Jane's defiant 'no', which felt too personal to share. She finally handed over the pad with a tolerant smile, waiting until Crowe was distracted with reading her words to give Jane a mischievous grin and a nudge, which were returned with a smirk.

Crowe finished reading the statement, giving a satisfied grunt. "That all looks fine, thanks Dr Isles."

Maura smiled politely at him, hoping he would take the cue and leave. He turned towards the door, but before he started walking, he huffed and turned back.

Crowe fiddled with the notepad, staring at his shoes as he started to talk. "Look, I just wanted to apologise. To both of you. I was the one who told John that you'd be in basement of that building the day he tried to kill you."

As he uttered his confession, Crowe glanced at Jane, seeming to search for signs of an imminent attack. When he didn't find any he shuffled the pages some more, uncomfortable but seemingly determined to get through his explanation. "I thought it was dumb to go to some abandoned building to get closure, or whatever it was you were doing, and I thought he'd find it funny too. I didn't know he was into anything like this. I thought he was just another detective, just like me."

Crowe sighed, obviously upset, and Maura was surprised to find she felt a little sorry for him. "Anyway, I'm sorry that I had any part in you guys getting hurt. If there's anything I can do to help you out, just let me know."

He briefly met both of their eyes, giving an apologetic grimace, before turning and striding out of the room. Both women were dumbfounded by his confession and apology, having never seen Crowe act like a decent person before. They looked at each other in astonishment, neither quite knowing how to react.

Korsak walked in a few moments after Crowe left, smiling happily. "Hi Jane. Hi Maura. Is Crowe done?"

He took in their expressions and stopped, looking worried. "Do I need to go have a talk with him?"

Maura carefully shook her head, which was mirrored by Jane. Korsak looked between them, still confused, but decided to ignore whatever had happened and move on. "Okay, not asking. So, you've given your statement?"

Maura scribbled for a moment on her small pad of paper before tearing off a sheet and holding it up. _Yes_

Korsak grinned at the new sign she'd made. "Any problems?"

Maura smiled as she scribbled on the other side of her sign. _No_

Jane was grinning too, though she was trying to hide her amusement, which only made Maura smile wider. It was so nice to see Jane getting her sense of humour back that Maura knew she'd be trying to make her laugh at every opportunity.

Korsak allowed them the moment of levity before growing serious. "Okay, good. The reason that I'm here, is that Frankie was at the station when I called Crowe. He heard enough to know you're awake, and he's outside with Angela. They want to know if they can come and visit you."

Maura's eyes shot to Jane, who had immediately stiffened at the mention of her family. Maura was worried about the reaction Jane might have to being in the same room with them, since she had no idea how much progress Jane had managed to make on distinguishing her own real memories from the false memories of mistreatment forced on her by the organisation. Obviously Jane had started to trust some people, like Susie, Nina and Korsak, and could tolerate others, like the medical staff and Crowe, but none of those people had been set up as triggers for her fear and defensive reflexes.

Korsak caught the worried look in Maura's eyes. "Jane hasn't wanted to see them since you were brought in. We asked a few days ago, but she made it very clear that she wasn't ready yet. I don't want to force anyone here. Just know that they have both been very worried about you two, and they just want to make sure you're okay."

Korsak turned to address Jane directly. "I know you have some bad stuff in your head about these people. But I also know that under all that garbage, you know they are good people who love you. You used to love them too. Now none of this is your fault, and none of it is their fault either. The people who did this are all gone. Are you willing to give this a try?"

Jane had listened intently as Korsak talked, her gaze practically boring through him as she tried to accept what he was saying. As soon as he finished speaking, she looked to Maura with a pleading expression, practically begging Maura to tell her what to do.

In response, Maura grabbed her hand and gave her a confident smile. When Jane still looked wary, Maura moved her uninjured leg, giving her a firm nudge in the side. Jane gave her an indignant look, which faded as she saw the certainty in Maura's answering stare. After another moment of contemplation, Jane turned to Korsak and nodded.

Korsak smiled, looking back at Maura. "I'll go and bring them in. Is there anything we should do to prepare them, or any precautions?"

Maura scribbled quickly on the notepad. _I think you, Susie and Nina should be here. Make sure Angela and Frankie don't approach Jane physically unless she asks them to._

Korsak read the instructions and nodded before leaving to get everyone. Jane looked worried again, so Maura gave her hand another squeeze. Jane looked at their hands thoughtfully, before moving to the side of Maura's bed away from the door and leaning over. "Keep hold, don't let me hurt anyone."

Maura's heart broke a little at hearing Jane's distressed and fearful tone. Jane was so scared, which was difficult for Maura to see. She suspected Jane was terrified of the painful memories of her family, since she was still unable to completely ignore her conditioning, as well as being scared of what she might do to people she had been told she used to love. It was so frustrating to be unable to reassure Jane with words, but being surrounded by people she trusted would have to suffice. Maura knew that Jane had pushed aside a lot of the conditioning, and this would be a huge test as to exactly how far she had come, and how far she still had to go.

A few moments later, Susie and Nina rushed into the room, both looking flustered. Nina took up a position next to Maura on the opposite side of the bed to Jane, while Susie moved right next to Jane and grabbed the hand not already entwined with Maura's. Jane's eyes widened in surprise, but Susie simply gave her a reassuring smile and turned to face the doorway.

Maura realised what they were doing, and was greatly appreciative. Nina was standing between Maura and any perceived threat, which would hopefully allow Jane to focus on her own reactions rather than worrying about Maura's safety. Susie was acting as both a support, a physical anchor and also a deterrent. If Jane moved towards her family violently, she would have to go through Susie, and apart from Maura the small criminologist evoked the strongest protective instinct from Jane, since they had both been victimised by the same organisation.

Jane looked at Maura one more time, her eyes searching for reassurance. Maura glanced at the two women standing with them before looking back with a certain nod. She was filled with absolute certainty that Jane could do this, and that reconnecting with her family would be a huge step in her recovery.

All eyes snapped to the doorway as Korsak entered. He stepped into the room and stood at the foot of the bed, positioning himself to react to anyone in the room. A few moments later, Frankie followed, looking unsure and nervous. He took a step into the room and stopped, keeping his distance from Jane as requested.

Then Angela stepped through the door, her face wet with tears and filled with hope. Maura felt Jane's hand tense as her entire body stiffened, her expression turning tempestuous instantly. Susie spun and put a restraining hand on Jane's shoulder, her voice quiet as she tried to calm her. Maura tugged on Jane's hand, trying to draw her mind back to the present, but Jane's accusing glare was fixed on Angela, seemingly unaware of the others in the room. Jane's body was starting to shake, the tension showing in her rigid posture. Maura wasn't sure if she was about to run or attack.

After around thirty seconds of Susie frantically whispering, Maura yanking desperately on her arm, Nina glancing fearfully between all the faces in the room and Korsak holding his breath, Jane finally relaxed slightly. She let out a ragged breath, her eyes dropping down to find Maura's. Her grip loosed on Maura's hand, but didn't let go.

Maura closed her eyes for a moment in relief. She could see that Jane was in control of herself again, after disappearing momentarily into her conditioning. The immediate danger of Jane attacking her family had passed.

Frankie had been holding on to Angela's arm, keeping her still and close to the door in case they needed to get away. He released his grip, but they didn't move closer. Angela was silently crying, her gazed fixed on her daughter.

Korsak took a moment to evaluate the various emotions in the room before slowly walking over to the Rizzolis. He gently took Angela's hand, pulling her a few steps closer to the bed, with Frankie following right behind her.

When he stopped them four steps away from the bed, Korsak carefully scrutinised Jane, trying to work out how to proceed.

Angela had apparently reached her limit on patience as her strained voice broke the silence. "Jane? Do you remember me?"

Jane flinched, her grip tensing again, but only briefly. After a few seconds, she relaxed again, looking at Angela searchingly for several long moments before nodding.

The responding smile on Angela's face was blinding. "Oh, Janie, I'm so glad! I'm so glad to see you! Frankie explained what happened, and what they did to you. To all of you."

Angela looked at everyone in the room warmly, her eyes coming to rest on Maura, who could just see around Nina. "Maura, thank you so much for finding my Janie. Are you okay?"

Maura nodded with a smile, checking on Jane to see how she was reacting. Jane had a conflicted look on her face, but she seemed to still be under control.

Angela was still smiling, and sounded more relaxed. "Maura, do you know when you'll be getting out of here?"

As she finished talking, Angela took a step towards the bed. Jane jerked forward without warning, her hand ripping out of Maura's grip. Susie grabbed her shoulders, trying to hold her in place, and Maura lunged up and caught Jane's arm. Korsak spun around and pushed Angela and Frankie back to the door while Nina stepped into the sightline between Jane and Angela.

The whole room froze again for several long seconds. Maura could feel pain throbbing through her chest, her ribs protesting against the sudden motion, but she held onto Jane with as firm a grip as she could manage, trying to pull on her arm and get her attention. Jane was breathing shallowly, her muscles rigid once again.

Maura's strength suddenly deserted her without warning and she lost her grip, falling back onto the bed painfully. She instinctively tried to yell out, which sent a blast of pain through her throat as well, despite her failure to make any sound. Maura screwed her eyes shut against the pain, her hands clenching in the air.

Maura struggled in silence for a few moments before she felt Jane's hands grab hers, supporting her through the pain. The motion of Maura's fall and agony had apparently been enough to finally catch Jane's attention.

After the pain subsided, Maura cracked her eyes open to see Jane leaning above her, apology and worry in her eyes. Susie was still next to Jane, her eyes wide as she still held on to Jane's arm. The rest of the room was still frozen, everyone looking at Maura with panicked expressions.

Maura managed to unclench her hands, shakily giving the room a thumbs up to signal that she was alright. Everyone breathed out a unanimous sigh of relief as they relaxed.

Angela leaned around Korsak, looking extremely guilty. "Maura, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you, Jane. I know you're not quite ready to be around me yet. It's just, I thought I'd lost you, and then I thought you were back once before. Now I know it's really you, and I am just so sorry I couldn't find you. That I couldn't help you."

She sighed before backing towards the door. "I know you've been through a lot and it'll take some time to figure things out. I just want you to know that I love you, and I've missed you so much. I'll be waiting as long as you need. You just let me know if you need anything, okay Jane?"

Jane tore her eyes away from Maura to look at her mother. Maura could see the internal battle that Jane was still fighting, so she was thrilled when Jane nodded in agreement.

Angela took another moment to look at the people gathered around Jane and Maura, her eyes glistening with proud tears. "I just want to say that you are the best people I could have ever hoped for to be friends with my daughter. You've done so much for this family."

She paused for a moment, needing to suck in a ragged breath to finish. "As far as I'm concerned, you are all family. Please look after my girls."

She was met by a roomful of smiles, nods and muttered agreements, and turned to leave before she was overcome with emotion. Frankie backed away as well, giving Jane a thankful smile. "Jane, Maura, everyone, thanks for saving me. You didn't have to come after me, but you did. And Jane? Thanks for trying with me and ma. I know that you're still mixed up about us, but like ma said, we're here whenever you're ready."

Frankie looked like he wanted to say more, but he simply waved awkwardly and backed out of the room. Jane stared after him for a few seconds, her expression still troubled, before turning to smile at Maura.

As it sank in that the Rizzolis had left without casualties, the tension in the room dropped away. Everyone gathered around Maura, who grabbed her notepad again. _It could have been worse. _

Everyone chuckled weakly when they saw the message, Susie finally letting go of Jane's arm. Jane turned to her, giving her a quick one-armed hug, which left Susie looking shocked but happy.

Korsak huffed out a relieved breath. "Well, we've cleared Jane, we've gotten rid of the organisation, and we've survived a Rizzoli family reunion. Can I buy you ladies some lunch in celebration?"

More laughs and nods were his answer. "Jane, can I get you something?"

Jane nodded and returned to her normal position next to Maura. It warmed Maura's heart when she realised Jane still wasn't going to leave her, even though she was awake and healing, and despite the fact that Jane had other people she could trust and depend on now. That was fine with her. It would be a while yet before she would be comfortable without Jane nearby. They had gone through too much to find each other again, and they needed some time to help each other heal.

The group hugged both Jane and Maura before leaving, promising to return soon with gifts. Maura smiled after them, realising that they were giving the pair some much needed processing time alone.

Maura reached for her writing pad. _Are you alright?_

Jane nodded with a smile, determination and conviction threaded through her voice. "I will be. I don't know when, but I will be."

_Me too_


	27. Chapter 27

Hi all!

So this was meant to be the last chapter, but it's not. But we're getting there!

Thanks as always to JaneyGWF for her beta services, even when she's massively busy!

Enjoy!

* * *

Finally, the day had come for Maura to go home. Her recovery had progressed without incident, the tracheostomy being removed on schedule with no complications. Her throat was still sore and her voice sounded raspy, but her doctor predicted a full recovery with time. Her leg was still in a cast, and would be for several more weeks, but otherwise she was okay.

Jane had barely left Maura's side for the entire duration of her stay. She had been persuaded to leave the room so Angela and Frankie could visit without incident, but only as long as Korsak, Nina and Susie were all in the room. As soon as the two had left again, Jane was back to watch over her friend. Everyone hoped that Jane would eventually be able to face her mother and brothers again without triggering her conditioning, but she wasn't there yet.

Jane's continuous presence revealed certain aspects of her conditioning that Maura hadn't yet been exposed to. When Maura awoke one night after a nightmare, she had frantically looked for Jane, needing to see her friend rather than the apparition of not-Jane that had haunted her sleep. She had eventually located her, curled up on the floor at the foot of her bed. Maura remembered reading about the measures taken by the organisation to dehumanise their subjects, but she hadn't realised that Jane still felt compelled to sleep on the floor rather than seeking the comfort of a bed or chair. She had cried herself back to sleep at the reminder of the trauma her friend had experienced.

Maura had also witnessed a regression in Jane's eating habits. While at her house, Jane had demonstrated a complete lack of understanding when it came to utensils, and it appeared that nobody had taken the time to continue her reintroduction. Instead, Nina, Susie or Korsak would make sure to bring Jane food that she could easily eat with her fingers. As much as Maura appreciated them trying to make things easier for Jane, as well as being unsure of whether pushing her would be helpful or harmful, she knew that eventually Jane would need to be reminded of how to eat and interact the way she used to if she was going to return to any semblance of her old life.

By the time she was released, Maura had noted a whole catalogue of worrisome behaviours that Jane exhibited, all results of her conditioning. Most were subtle things, like her tendency to stare at people or stand just a fraction too close. Other things, like her sleeping habits, were more obvious obstacles to overcome. Fortunately it had been agreed unanimously that both Jane and Maura would be living at Maura's house for the foreseeable future, at least until Jane felt more comfortable around people and Maura had recovered from her injuries.

Due to Maura's injuries, she hadn't been able to have a proper conversation with Jane, either about everything that had happened or about where to go from here. She had utilised the notepad to communicate, but grew frustrated with the slower pace dictated by having to write everything, and hadn't been willing to delve into serious subjects until she had the use of her voice back. Similarly, once the various pieces of hardware had been removed from her throat, her voice had been so coarse and unintelligible that she was still reluctant to hold long conversations, preferring one word answers to questions.

As such, when Maura finally found herself at home, seated on the couch with an attentive Jane at her side, it seemed like the moment had come to have several overdue conversations. Korsak had left soon after dropping them off, needing to sort out some more witness statements for the ongoing trial prep around the organisation. Nina and Susie had stayed for dinner and the associated clean up, but had cleared out quickly after making sure Maura and Jane had everything they needed. Maura suspected that everyone had sensed her need to have some time alone with Jane to start working things out.

Before Maura could think of how to start, Jane surprised her by speaking first. "Maura, I need to know what I did to you all while I was reprogrammed."

Maura gasped at the bluntness of the question, representative of Jane's lack of social boundaries. This was one of the issues she had been hoping to address, but she had also hoped to work up to it, since the answer wasn't going to be easy for Jane to hear.

Jane saw Maura's uneasiness and frowned. "You don't want to talk about it, I'm sorry."

Maura shook her head, sitting up to get the most volume possible out of her croaky voice. "No, it's all right. I was just surprised, I wasn't sure you'd want to talk about it. I didn't know if you remembered any of it, or if everything between being here and being at the factory was a blank."

Jane nodded in understanding. "I don't remember anything, but I do remember seeing that Nina was hurt, and she said she shot me and hit me with a truck. I don't think she would have done that if I wasn't trying to hurt her, or someone else."

Maura tried to keep her face as impassive as possible. "Yes, unfortunately Lucas did force you to come after us."

Maura recounted everything that had happened after not-Jane was activated, leaving nothing out. She wished she could spare Jane from the pain of the truth, but since Jane had spent four years wrapped in deception and falsehoods it seemed cruel and dangerous to withhold any information now. What Jane needed was to be able to trust people again, not be shielded.

Jane's expression was harsh and angry while Maura explained their encounters. She visibly flinched when Maura told her about the torture in the hospital, her eyes falling to Maura's shoulder and remaining there for the rest of the story. Her lip curled in distaste as Maura described her alternate persona, complete with high heels, fondness for pink sparkles and obedience toward monsters with human faces. She grimaced when they reached the chase through the underground facility, culminating in Susie being impaled on Jane's blades and Frankie sacrificing himself to let the others escape. She frowned in discomfort throughout the retelling of the car chase that had led to Lucas' capture, her expression lightening momentarily at the mention of Susie's daring rescue with a fire truck. When Maura finally reached Jane's entry into the warehouse and subsequent electrical liberation, she stopped, since Jane knew the rest first-hand.

Jane seemed to have frozen, her body coiled and shaking with rage, her eyes staring off into space. Maura watched with great concern, not knowing whether to speak or let Jane work through her thoughts. After several minutes, Maura decided to shuffle closer, gently touching Jane's hand.

Jane jerked her hand back as if it was on fire, jumping up off the couch and backing away. Her anger melted away, her shoulders sagging as she was overcome by shame and guilt. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Maura. I…I..."

Jane stuttered to a stop, so overcome she couldn't seem to find words. Maura felt terrible for inflicting the knowledge on Jane, since she knew there was nothing Jane could have done to prevent anything that had happened. She awkwardly got to her feet, grabbing a crutch to hobble over to Jane.

Jane realised what Maura was doing and rushed fearfully to her side, holding her arms out but not touching Maura, her trepidation clear in her reluctance to make contact. "No, don't, you'll hurt yourself…"

Maura abruptly covered Jane's mouth and met her gaze with conviction. "I'm fine. We're all fine. Nobody thinks you had any say in what happened. Nobody blames you. Nobody thinks you could do anything to hurt us. We all understand that you had no choice. You weren't even aware of what your body was doing. You don't need to feel guilty for anything your body did while you weren't in control. And we don't need to forgive you, because we know you didn't do anything wrong."

Jane still didn't move, but her eyes filled with tears. When they started rolling over Maura's hand, she released her hold on Jane's face and stumbled forward, pulling Jane into a frantic hug. Both of them started to sob, the pent up emotions that had been building for weeks, months and years finally finding an outlet in the comfort of the other's arms.

Eventually, after both their tears had run dry, Maura had to pull back from the hug, her body not yet strong enough to stand for long periods of time. Jane realised the problem, and immediately helped lower Maura back onto the couch. As Jane moved to back away, Maura grabbed her hand, pulling her down next to her and curling into her side. She felt Jane stiffen initially, but after a few moments she relaxed, moving her arms to hug Maura closer. They both needed the closeness when their emotions were so raw. Maura had felt so lonely for so long, and she wasn't ready to be alone again, even for a moment.

They sat together in shared silence for some time, both taking wordless refuge in the other's presence. Eventually, Maura's thoughts brought her back to the other questions that had been brewing for days, and she knew that it was time to move to the next difficult conversation.

She pulled away from Jane, grasping her hand to maintain some contact, then cleared her still scratchy throat. "Jane, are you okay to talk some more?"

Jane simply nodded, her expression trusting as she sat back. Maura sighed, hoping the trust would still be there when they'd discussed everything she thought needed to be said. "Okay. Well, what I wanted to discuss, is what do you want to do now?"

Jane frowned in confusion, and Maura jumped back in with a barely contained babble. "I mean, I don't really know what's going on in your head, and whether you want help, or if you want to go back to your apartment, if you want to work towards being able to see your family, if you want to become a detective again, if…"

It was Jane's turn to stop Maura with a hand over her mouth, her expression amused. "Okay, I understand, slow down."

Maura smiled as Jane pulled her hand back, and settled back to let Jane answer.

The smile faded from Jane's face as she contemplated the question. "I'm not really sure. I'm still confused about a lot of things, and I'm having issues with my memory. It's hard to work out what things are real, or which people hurt me or used to be friends. And whenever something doesn't make sense or gets muddled, that's when I react without meaning to, like I did at the hospital, or the first time I saw Frankie again."

Maura gripped Janes hand a little tighter. "Can I help? If you tell me something you remember, I might be able to tell you if it really happened."

Jane nodded slowly. "That might work. I think my memories of you are the least confused, and I know I can trust you."

Maura smiled at the sentiment, before frowning. "I've been wondering something. Why is it that you trust me? You always have, right from the moment you followed me home. Was it because you remembered me as a friend, or was it because you thought I was your handler?"

Jane grimaced at the question. "I was hoping you might not have noticed that."

Maura looked down, her unvoiced fear realised. "So, you didn't come here because you felt safe, you came because you thought you were following orders."

Jane tugged on Maura's hand, getting her to look up at her pleading face. "No! I realise it may not seem like it because of my behaviour, but you were always my friend, my safe place. The reason I acted like you were a handler was because my memories and feelings were really scrambled, but I never thought of you as ordering me around or manipulating me. Ugh, I'm not explaining this properly."

Jane swiped a hand over her head, her fingers lingering over the still prominent scars near her temples. "Okay. When I was first being indoctrinated, I was in a really confusing place. I think I was drugged, and there were screens with images running all the time, and I could hear voices of people I thought I knew saying all kinds of crazy things. I don't remember specifics, but I remember I was scared, and I couldn't move physically, so I tried to find a safe place in my head. For some reason, they weren't using any images of you, so I could keep you the way I remembered you a lot easier. I managed to use you as my anchor, to keep myself somewhat sane. Whenever I thought I was losing myself, I'd remember something you'd done, or said, and I'd feel safe, so I could deal with whatever was being thrown at me. I ended up becoming passive towards outward attacks, and I was so confused that I thought everyone else had turned against me, but they never managed to touch you. I eventually let them make me compliant and docile, I would automatically do anything they asked me, to ensure that they wouldn't try to take you from me."

Maura had a cautious smile on her face as Jane continued. "After years of experimentation, they finally decided to try to send me on a mission outside the facility. They had mostly stopped messing with my head by that point, since I did whatever they asked anyway. They thought I was completely broken, and they were right, except for one bright thing I'd kept safe. They made the mistake of talking about the mission in front of me. When I realised they were after you, that despite all my efforts to keep you away from them they had decided to take you anyway, I decided that I couldn't let them. I fought back. I got away. I resisted."

Maura smiled broadly at the pride in Jane's voice. Jane was sounding more like her old self every day, and the story of how she had overcome her programming was amazing to hear.

Jane smiled back before continuing. "The next few months are a bit blurry. I opened all the doors and escaped the facility, and ended up in a park. I scavenged for food, survived somehow, but without any familiar sights and people, I just floated. I didn't know how to find you, and I didn't know that I should probably be trying to run from the organisation, so I simply existed. Then, out of nowhere, you ran through the park, and it felt like my brain just woke up."

Jane squeezed Maura's hand fervently. "I followed you home, because I knew you. You were the person I was supposed to protect, and the person who would keep me safe. You were family, you were my friend, you were my home."

Maura's throat had closed with emotion, so she could only nod happily as tears threatened to run down her face once more. Jane smiled and continued unashamedly. "I know that I was responding like a robot for those first few days, but it was because somehow the feeling of safety at being around you got mixed together with the feeling of safety that came from obeying the handlers back in the facility. It just seemed natural somehow to respond to your commands, because if I was willing to obey those people, I should be eager to obey your commands to show how much I trusted you. I gradually started to remember myself the longer I was around you, when you kept showing me familiar things. I tried to respond to you as I used to rather than how I'd been programmed to, but it was difficult to break the pattern after so long. I kept reverting to my obedient ways, and even though I could see it hurt you, you kept trying with me, which kept telling me that I was right to feel safe with you. You made me realise it was okay to want to feel human again."

Maura swallowed past the lump in her throat. "So, when you were obeying my commands, it wasn't because you had to?"

Jane shook her head. "It was because I trusted you enough to steer me in the right direction when my head was too confused to know what was right. It was because I wanted to, not because I had to."

Maura squeezed Jane's hand, her emotions getting in the way of speaking yet again.

Jane sighed. "So, in answer to your question, I want to try to get better. I want to be able to be around people again without scaring them. I want to be able to speak to people, so I can apologise to everyone I've hurt, even if you say I don't need to."

Maura had opened her mouth to argue, but Jane's raised eyebrow silenced her with a grin and a nod. Jane smirked before continuing. "I'm not sure if I could ever be a detective again, my brain may never work the way it needs to for police investigation. But I want to remember what it meant to me, how it made me feel, so I can decide for myself if it's something I want."

Jane glanced down for a moment, shifting uncomfortably, before looking back earnestly at Maura. "I don't want to move back into my apartment by myself. I'll sleep on the doorstep if I have to, but I need to make sure you're safe."

Maura smiled widely, nodding her agreement. "I don't want you to move out either. I've been alone too long. I'd much rather have you here, where I know you're safe and happy. And the doorstep won't be necessary, I think I've got a room for you."

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Repeat: not the last chapter folks! Let me know your thoughts, and if there's anything you particularly want to see before the story wraps up!


	28. Chapter 28

Hi all!

Here we are at the final chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

Maura awoke peacefully, feeling well rested after a rare nightmare-free and prolonged sleep. She listened for a moment before moving, a slow smile appearing as she heard the sounds of someone making breakfast in her kitchen. She dressed slowly, knowing there was no hurry since it was a Sunday, which was fortunate since it was somehow already after eleven. As she moved around her bedroom, she thought about everything that was planned for the day, and everything that had led to this point.

Over the course of the last three months, her physical injuries had completely healed, leaving many new scars but no permanent impairments. Her voice occasionally rasped a bit more than it used to, but it was a minor inconvenience that she could live with.

However, those three months had served more purpose than just physical healing. The invisible wounds left on both Maura and Jane had been deep and disfiguring, and it had taken them a long time to start repairing them.

For almost a month, Maura and Jane had practically hidden away in the house, neither leaving the premises unless absolutely necessary. Their only visitors had been Nina, Susie and Korsak.

Maura had been almost overcome with anxiety whenever she was alone since waking up in the hospital. It was as if her mind had been storing her reaction to all the trauma she had endured, and the dam had suddenly ruptured. She could keep it under control and hidden whenever Jane was in sight, but she was consistently jumpy and nervous. Everyone had noticed how jittery Maura was, and how much it had made her withdraw from everyone, but they were reluctant to push the issue for fear of making it worse. As a result everyone walked on eggshells around her, trying not to make sudden movements or loud noises, which made Maura feel worse as soon as she realised what was happening.

The worst form of her symptoms manifested when she was barely awake, or when she suddenly noticed Jane's presence unexpectedly. For a moment, she forgot. She thought she had been captured by the organisation, and that her memories of the last few weeks were false. She thought Jane was her warden, and that she would imminently resume the torture that had been postponed during her delusion of escape and victory. Those moments passed eventually, lasting anywhere from seconds to several long minutes, but each time she was left shaking and whimpering. She had been unsure if Jane realised what was triggering the attacks, and there was no way Maura would ever tell her.

Jane had been keeping to herself, seeming to want to deal with her issues alone as much as possible. It was frustrating for Maura, since Jane had opened up so much during their first few conversations, but she had quickly reverted to form, withholding her feelings and avoiding deep discussion. Maura wasn't sure if it was her own anxiety that was making Jane withdraw, so she started making a concerted effort to overcome her own fears, as impossible a task as that seemed.

The only time Jane voluntarily came out of her shell was when she was trying to comfort Maura during one of her anxiety attacks. As soon as she saw the tell-tale signs, Jane would rush over, pulling Maura into her arms, muttering soothing words, stroking her hair or back until her breathing slowed and the tremors stilled. During those precious moments, she would sometimes tell Maura how she was feeling, or something that she'd discovered about herself, in an attempt to distract her from the fear. Those moments were pure torment for Maura, because she wanted more of them so Jane would continue to open up, but at the same time she was so tired of being afraid.

Their friends had obviously noticed the difficulties the two were experiencing, but despite repeated requests Jane wouldn't agree to see any outside doctors, and Maura wouldn't do so unless Jane did. Since there was nobody else to help, Nina, Susie and Korsak took it upon themselves to try. They settled into separate routines, with at least two of them visiting Maura's house every day.

Nina had been doing all the shopping and errands, as well as keeping them company for as long as she could. She often brought takeaway and stayed for a meal, ensuring that the pair weren't withdrawing completely or getting stuck in their own heads. She would always make sure the mood was light, and became a great source of optimism and encouragement during the tempestuous first weeks after their return home. Both Jane and Maura had a tendency to overthink and dwell on their demons, but Nina's bubbly appearances inevitably dragged them back to a more positive place.

Korsak had been updating them on the progress of the prosecution of everyone involved in the organisation. Due to the public outrage over the existence of such a dark and insidious group, the case had been very rapidly progressed through the system. A few of the agents involved had struck deals for reduced sentences, which resulted in every high up participant having nowhere to hide. The information recovered by Nina had identified all the subjects that were out in the world unaware, and those people had been gently and discreetly contacted. The last few escaped subjects had also been found and put into treatment, either medical or psychological depending on their particular situation. Jane and Maura started to feel safer with each of Korsak's visits, as each one reinforced the basic truth that their ordeal was truly over and there was nobody left from the organisation to come after them.

Susie had taken it upon herself to try and help Jane overcome her conditioning, even as she attempted to overcome her own. Jane had agreed after a lot of consideration, as she could see how guilty Susie still felt and wanted to help the young woman get past her own trauma. Susie had been the first person other than Maura that Jane could, or would, talk in front of. Both Susie and Maura had been thrilled and heartened immensely, with Susie crying happily for almost ten minutes after Jane had uttered her first innocuous 'hi'. They worked together nearly every day, discussing their experiences, trying various deprogramming techniques, testing themselves against their conditioning in the relative safety of Maura's house. Maura assisted wherever she could, reluctantly ordering them to do things as a handler so they had the opportunity to resist their compulsion to obey.

It had been a long and problematic process, and it hadn't gone smoothly the whole time.

Around three weeks after they started, Jane had a bad reaction while trying to resist one of Maura's commands and knocked her away before she realised what she was doing. The cast on Maura's foot had slipped on the tiles, making her lose her balance and fall into the bench. Before Maura could recover and reassure Jane, the panic and guilt overcame Jane and she ran out the door.

Maura and the others spent the next two days looking for her. By mutual agreement they had managed to disable Jane's GPS tracker the week after they got home, which meant they had no way to find Jane easily. Finally, after Maura had come home exhausted and frantic, she found Jane waiting for her in the kitchen, remorse and shame evident in her posture and expression. Maura had run to her, punched her hard in the shoulder, then dragged her into a desperate hug, begging her to never run again.

They had talked for hours that night, discussing everything about where they stood and how much they were each willing to risk to help the other. Jane had intended to come back, apologise, then leave to ensure Maura never got hurt again, but the desperation and anxiety Maura had shown after hearing that information convinced Jane that she was needed and wanted right where she was. Until that point, Jane had known how much she relied on Maura, but she somehow hadn't realised how much the feeling was reciprocated. Maura may have endured different traumas, but she was just as much in need of mental healing as Jane in many ways.

The scare had galvanised everyone to work even harder, and Jane hadn't had a loss of control since. She still visibly struggled to disobey a handler command, but she could do it every time. Maura had finally agreed to see a doctor and get some anxiety medication to take the edge off her attacks. After all the concern and effort Nina and Korsak put into finding her, and keeping Maura safe while she was gone, Jane had trusted them enough to talk to them as well.

Once Jane had overcome that barrier, the group started coming over for weekly dinners. It had been tense at first, but gradually everyone simply became comfortable with the new group dynamic. Jane started interacting more casually, having full conversations instead of only talking when absolutely necessary. Maura followed her lead, opening up and starting to feel less nervous around people again. Gradually the depressing cloud that had seemed to fill the house started to lift, and both Maura and Jane started to feel like they were on the right path to recovery.

After a month and a half of working with Jane and Maura, Susie had managed to break her conditioning, and had returned to work. She had been welcomed back to BPD as a hero, the staff throwing her a huge welcome back party. The ease of Susie's return to work had gotten Maura thinking about what she wanted to do, and she quickly concluded that she did want to return to work as soon as possible. Through consultation with her doctor, a tentative return date was agreed upon, around three months after her release from hospital.

The return date had given her another six weeks to continue working through things, and Maura was confident that she would be ready. The only concern, besides ensuring that she was recovered enough to handle it, was what Jane wanted to do.

As the time for Maura to return to work approached, she and Jane both became apprehensive about being apart. They had barely left each other's side for over two months, and it would be hard to be separated, but they both knew they needed to take that step if they wanted to continue to work towards reclaiming their normal lives.

They started leaving the house together, either for shopping trips, visiting the others or simply going for runs. Both of them were highly anxious to begin with, scrutinising every person they passed and remaining vigilant for danger every moment, but gradually they settled and found being out in the world more tolerable, especially once Jane started relearning her old mannerisms and losing her conditioned ones.

Over time, the pair had started to address and overcome the finer details of Jane's programming. For the first month, Jane had slept in Maura's room by mutual agreement. To begin with, she had still slept on the floor, but once she realised how distressed that arrangement made Maura, Jane forced herself to return to sleeping in a bed. It took almost two weeks for her to remain in the bed for the entire night, but gradually she adjusted and was eventually able to sleep normally.

Once Jane could bear to be in a bed, they proceeded to the next phase of adjustment and moved Jane into the guest room. The move precipitated almost two weeks of broken sleep for both of them, with Maura experiencing nightmares several times most nights and Jane frequently returning to Maura's room to ensure she was still safe. They both broke the rules and moved rooms during the night multiple times during the adjustment period, but slowly the nightmares faded and Jane started to relax, gaining confidence that Maura would be safe without her in the room. Almost two months after coming home, they both managed to sleep through the night in separate rooms.

Jane had also started relearning her old social cues. She was remembering to stop staring at people incessantly, she started standing at a more comfortable distance, she engaged with people instead of ignoring their presence. There were still times when she forgot herself, but over the course of a few months her mannerisms were closer to those of her old self. She also relearned how to eat with cutlery, a great boon once the group started enjoying their weekly meals.

Once they had overcome their fear of the outside world together, they moved to the next phase. Maura had kept in contact with Frankie and Angela consistently during their time of healing, and had been keeping Jane updated on their communication as well. Jane had been reluctant to see them while she was still unsure of her control over her conditioning, so Maura decided she would go and have lunch with Angela by herself. It was a good opportunity, both to test her ability to function without Jane, and also to see Angela again, who she missed terribly.

After an anxious first few minutes, the meal had felt like a breath of fresh air. Angela had, of course, been unable to contain her reaction when she first saw Maura, pulling her into a bone crushing hug and refusing to let go for several minutes. When she was finally released, Maura was slightly shaky, but she wasn't as alarmed by the close contact as she thought she was going to be. The two had fallen back into their old pattern of conversation quickly, catching each other up on their daily lives and simply enjoying each other's company again. Angela's face would grow momentarily pained whenever the subject of Jane came up, but she had been completely understanding about Jane's reluctance to contact her, and simply offered whatever help she could provide.

When Maura had gotten home, she had found Jane waiting nervously just inside the door. Maura could only smile genuinely, realising that even though Jane was obviously uncomfortable about being apart from her, they had both gotten through it with minimal issues. Jane returned the smile, realising the same thing. Jane then surprised Maura by asking how her mother was, with barely any hesitation or fear. It seemed that there had been more progress than Maura realised in Jane's mind when it came to her family.

Maura smiled to herself as her awareness returned to the present. They had both come a long way in three months, and things were looking promising. Today would be another big test for both of them, but she was hopeful that they would both pass.

Maura made her way to the kitchen, smiling when she saw what was unfolding. Jane was working industriously on some sort of breakfast, involving eggs, flour and something green judging by the remnants stuck to her shirt and face. Her short spiky hair had a streak of white flour through it, and her face was fixed in a determined grimace as she stirred something on the stovetop. Maura leaned on the doorway, not wanting to interrupt, and watched in amusement.

She couldn't help bursting into laughter a moment later, when Jane attempted to flip a pancake and instead launched it into the ceiling. Jane looked at Maura in surprise, clearly not realising she had an audience, then looked back at the pancake in time for it to fall in her face.

Maura slid down the wall helplessly, peals of laughter wracking her slight frame. Jane looked at her in indignation, before wiping the remnants of the batter away and chuckling. She turned the stove off and dropped the used frying pan on the bench before moving to join a still snickering Maura sitting against the wall.

Jane glared good-naturedly for several long moments while Maura held a hand over her mouth, valiantly trying to stop giggling. Finally she managed to calm herself enough to speak. "How's breakfast coming along?"

Jane glanced back at the kitchen. "It's ready. All you can eat flour, pancake batter and raw eggs. Help yourself."

Maura chuckled again, Jane smiling widely as she nudged her shoulder with a sigh. "I tried, I failed, moving on. How did you sleep?"

Maura nudged back. "I slept quite well, thank you. And although the result may not have been ideal, thank you for trying to cook."

Jane snorted as she got to her feet and pulled Maura up with her. "Yes, well, maybe I'll leave the cooking for you next time. Or Nina, isn't she coming over today?"

Maura nodded as she moved into the kitchen, inspecting the scattered ingredients to see if anything could be salvaged. "She should be here within the hour."

Jane nodded and started cleaning up. Between the two of them, they managed to recover a decent breakfast and clean up the kitchen. Just as they were finishing, they heard a knock on the door.

Maura grabbed their plates and headed for the kitchen while Jane answered the door. She returned moments later with Nina in tow.

Nina carefully deposited her laptop on the table, noticing the set table before calling out to Maura. "Morning! How was breakfast?"

Jane rolled her eyes as Maura's only response was laughter. "Don't ask. What's with the computer?"

Nina's expression rapidly transformed from restrained amusement to nervous anticipation. "Ah. Well, we wanted to talk to you about something we've been working on."

Maura had made her way back to the table as Nina was talking, and now looked at Jane with a suddenly serious demeanour. "Now, Jane, we want to run something by you, and if you don't want to go through with it, it's not a problem. We don't want you to do anything you aren't comfortable with, we just want to present an option."

Jane frowned in confusion. "Okay, what is this 'option' that has you both so nervous?"

Maura glanced at Nina for reassurance before continuing. "As you probably remember, the organisation restrained the healing abilities of the nannites to leave your scars from the various surgeries, for whatever twisted reason. Nina has found a way to rewrite your nannite program, if you want to, so that all your scars will heal."

Jane's eyes widened in surprise. "All my scars? You mean…all of them?"

She clasped her hands together, rubbing the old scalpel scars in her familiar nervous manner. Maura smiled knowingly. "Yes, including those ones. And your gunshot wound, and all of your other scars from both before and after you were taken. You'd be completely healed."

Jane stared at her hands for several long moments. Maura glanced at Nina, who seemed to be holding her breath.

Jane frowned, the indecision clear on her face. "So, would I be able to get them back if we did this? Would they really be gone, or would it be like when the nannites just made me look different?"

Maura reached over, taking Jane's hand comfortingly. "No, they would be gone for good."

Jane nodded slowly, her eyes tracing the exposed scars on her arms. There were so many, big and small. They all told stories of her pain, but they also spoke of her survival. Maura understood why this was such a big decision, and she wasn't sure what Jane would decide, but as they had said, this was about giving Jane the option to decide for herself.

Maura squeezed Jane's hand gently. "You don't have to decide anything now. The code is ready, and it will still be ready tomorrow, or next week, or a year from now if you decide you want this."

Jane took a deep breath and shook her head. "No. No, I don't want to wait, let's do this now."

Maura sat back, surprised. "Now? You don't want to think it over for a while?"

Jane shook her head again, firm in her decision. "I don't need to. I know people can't see past the scars when they look at me. They make it impossible for anyone to see me as anything but a victim. I don't want to be seen that way anymore. Not as a victim of Hoyt, or a subject of the organisation, just as me. Maybe if I look like myself again, people will see that I'm getting better."

Maura smiled widely. "And you are. You've come a really long way Jane."

Nina nodded in agreement. "And nobody sees you as a victim, even with the scars. People just know that you've been through a lot, but you're still standing tall."

Maura wanted to make sure Jane had thought it through all the way. "Jane, please don't do this just because of what other people might think. Your scars have been a part of you for a long time, and it might be hard not having them anymore. Although they came from painful experiences, those things have shaped you. Don't rush into taking away something that reminds you of how much you've overcome to get here."

Jane smiled at them both. "I don't need the reminder. I'm pretty sure all of my past will be with me whether I want it to be or not. Having scars might have been something to take strength from before, but now they're unnecessary. I have people I trust not to let me fall, and I know myself again. I'm ready to put it all behind me. Let's do this."

Maura kept holding Jane's hand, the two of them still drawing comfort from the simple gesture, as Nina set up the transfer. After several minutes, she finished typing and looked at Jane. "Okay, the program is ready to go. I just need to activate your hub, and I can load the program. Are you 100% sure you want to do this?"

Jane didn't answer, instead moving her hand under her shirt and finding the control on the hub. She pressed the button and nodded to Nina.

With a final keystroke, the program started loading. Maura kept her gaze on Jane's face, watching for signs that their work had been successful.

It started subtly. The tissue at the edges of the jagged scar across her face softened. The puckered edges of the wounds at her temples started pulling back, smoothing out the raised marks. The scattered remnants on Jane's arms faded, gently matching the surrounding skin tone and disappearing.

Jane held up her free hand, watching in fascination as the old scars melted away, taking the reminders of her past traumas and confining them to her memory, where they could be revisited as she desired instead of whenever she looked in a mirror.

Maura felt a tear track down her cheek as she watched the last of Jane's scars disappear, the deep cut on her face the last to go. She smiled happily, seeing the face of her dearest friend unmarred by the actions of others. Wordlessly Maura held out a mirror that she'd retrieved and sat back, giving Jane the choice to look in her own time.

Jane waited a few moments, looking nervous, before lifting up the mirror. Her eyes squinted in confusion for a moment before they softened in recognition, her mouth opening in amazement as she moved her head from side to side. A wondering smile slowly spread over her features as she absorbed the sight of her restored face, a sight she hadn't seen in years. She lowered the mirror and smiled giddily at Maura and Nina. Maura had been expecting some sense of grief or uncertainty from Jane when she lost her scars, but instead the healing of her body seeming to have released some residual restriction of her spirit. She looked happy, and light, and free.

Nina whooped in victory when she saw that Jane was okay with the transformation, throwing her hands in the air in celebration. Jane and Maura laughed at the exclamation, standing up and hugging happily. Nina jumped over and joined the hug, rubbing a hand over Jane's head and ruffling her short hair. Jane was too happy to squirm out of the hug as she normally would, instead reaching out and crushing Nina against Maura's side awkwardly.

The joyful embrace was interrupted by a casual knock on the door, followed by Korsak's booming voice. "Anyone home?"

Jane let go of everyone with a grin. "Yeah, we're in here!"

Korsak came through the door holding an armful of shopping bags, followed by Susie similarly loaded up. They made their way to the kitchen, shouting greetings to everyone without really looking.

Nina hung back to pack up her computer while Jane and Maura moved into the kitchen, both with barely contained grins. Susie was packing things into the fridge while Korsak looked at the roof with a puzzled expression.

He noticed that Maura had entered the kitchen and pointed to the mark that had caught his eye. "Did something happen to your roof, doc?"

Maura suppressed a snort. "Uh, Jane was helping to cook breakfast."

Korsak chuckled and turned to Jane, presumably to needle her about keeping the food off the ceiling, and gasped as he saw her properly. He stumbled back a step, his face amazed as he took in her new appearance.

Susie heard the sudden void in the conversation and turned around to see what had happened, letting out a surprised squeal when she understood. "You did it! You figured it out! Wow! You look amazing!"

Jane was almost bowled over with the tackling hug from Susie, getting a laugh from Maura and Nina, who had just joined them. After a few moments, Susie released her prisoner with a happy laugh, Jane giving her a disapproving but friendly glare as she reclaimed her limbs. Jane looked back at Korsak, who still seemed to be in shock.

When he realised everyone was staring at him, Korsak cleared his throat and stepped closer to Jane, his voice gravelly and heavy with emotion. "It's good to see the old you again, Janie."

He glanced at her hands meaningfully for a moment before he pulled her into a gentle hug, which Jane returned wholeheartedly. Maura almost wanted to cry herself at the heart-warming scene, the sight of Korsak overcome with what felt like fatherly love touching them all deeply.

After a few long moments, Korsak pulled away and quickly wiped his eyes. He glanced around, seeing three sappy looks directed at him, and cleared his throat brusquely. "Okay, show's over, we've got a dinner to cook."

The group laughed good-naturedly, Susie nudging him on the way back to the fridge. Maura could only smile happily at the domestic atmosphere that had developed between them all, including the banter, the support and especially the deep affection one could only find in a real family.

Everyone settled into their usual roles for preparing their weekly dinners, all pulling their own weight and chatting amicably. Jane's role, by unanimous agreement, was to stay out of the way, so to pass some of the time she went and got changed out of her batter splattered clothes. They had plenty of time, so a leisurely pace was set that allowed ample time for conversation, drinks and good company.

By the time four rolled around, dinner was ready. As the hour had approached, everyone started talking faster, covering their rising nerves. Maura had stopped helping and had claimed the seat next to Jane, casting furtive glances at her every few minutes. Jane had withdrawn from the conversation and was staring into space, her hands unthinkingly rubbing over her missing scars.

The whole room froze when a firm knock sounded at the door. Susie was the closest, and after a reassuring nod from Maura she went to answer the door.

Jane locked eyes with Maura suddenly, her hand shooting out and finding Maura's with a slight edge of panic. "Is this really a good idea?"

Maura tried to hide her anxiety and smile, mostly convinced of her own words. "Yes. You're ready. They're ready. It's definitely time. You'll get through this, I promise."

Jane studied her expression for a moment before nodding, the determination clear in her eyes. She continued to hold Maura's hand as they got up and faced the visitors.

The murmurs that had heralded their approach fell into silence as Angela and Frankie saw Jane for the first time in months. Angela gasped and put a hand over her mouth, her eyes tearing up instantly. Frankie put a hand on her shoulder as he smiled cautiously at Jane.

Jane seemed frozen, seemingly not on the verge of attacking but also not responding. Maura gently nudged her arm, then decided to act in her stead. "Angela, Frankie, welcome. It's really good to see you both."

Angela nodded, a small choked sniff indicating that she was having difficulty speaking past her emotions. Frankie patted her shoulder again before he stepped forward. "Hi Maura. Everyone. Jane. Thanks for inviting us."

Maura smiled appreciatively at Frankie before turning back to Jane, giving her another more forceful nudge. Jane blinked, looking dazed, before focusing on Frankie. She carefully looked him over, apparently determining whether he was a threat, before giving him a curt nod of acknowledgement. He smiled brightly, seemingly thrilled to have gotten even that much from Jane considering how badly she'd reacted to his presence in the past.

Jane then looked to Angela. The older woman had lost her battle with tears, and her face was now streaked with gleaming evidence of how much she was feeling. However, she was winning the battle against her emotional control and managed to force out a strained sentence. "Hi Janie."

Maura could see that Jane was fighting against a resurgence of her conditioning, as her face showed the tiny signs of duress Maura had grown so familiar with over the past months. However, she recovered in mere seconds, softening her harsh expression and giving Angela a nod. To everyone's surprise, a small smile flitted over her face as she relaxed slightly, squeezing Maura's hand to indicate her acceptance of the new arrivals.

Korsak and Susie had spent a lot of time preparing both Rizzolis for the visit, and they both stuck to the script. Neither of them tried to approach Jane, they both moved slowly and kept their hands visible, and they didn't speak directly to Jane. As the whole group stood awkwardly and exchanged pleasantries, Maura leaned close to Jane and whispered in her ear. "Are you okay? Do you need us to change anything?"

Jane smiled and shook her head, shooting a quick glance at her mother. Angela was talking with Susie, her movements subdued and out of character for the normally exuberant woman, while also sneaking occasional glimpses of Jane. Their eyes briefly locked, and Jane gave her another smile before turning away. Maura couldn't resist giving Jane a quick sideways hug in encouragement before moving away to start serving dinner.

Everyone moved to their places without a hitch, and the initial awkwardness seemed to have dissipated. Jane sat between Maura and Susie, with Korsak and Nina sitting across from them, Frankie sitting at the end of the table and Angela sitting at the other. Conversation flowed freely around the table, with everyone getting reacquainted with the Rizzolis after so long in forced isolation. Angela couldn't help looking wistfully at Jane, obviously wanting to try and engage her in conversation but valiantly trying to obey her instructions. Maura felt great pity for the pining mother, knowing she only wanted to help her daughter and missed her dreadfully.

Around halfway through the meal, Maura felt Jane shift in her seat and glanced at her, trying to understand what she needed. Jane met her questioning look with a determined one, before astounding Maura with her next action.

"Ma, can you pass the salt?"

The room went deathly silent as everyone stared at Jane in astonishment. After a few stunned moments Korsak dropped his fork loudly, jarring Angela into motion. "Of course! Here Janie, here's the salt. Of course you can have the salt!"

Angela's voice hitched as a huge smile overtook her face, mirrored by everyone else at the table. Jane reached out a hesitant hand, taking the proffered salt shaker with a small nod. Everyone continued to stare as Jane shook a few grains of salt onto her plate before putting it down and picking up her fork. She realised the room was still silent and poked Maura in the leg none too gently, encouraging her to start up the conversation again.

Maura immediately launched into a spiel on optimal salt intake, but she was only half concentrating on her ramble, too excited by Jane's breakthrough. She snuck her hand into Jane's and squeezed enthusiastically as she talked, and received an answering squeeze back. The mood of the whole group soared, as everyone understood the significance of what had just happened.

When the meal was finished, Nina, Susie and Korsak unobtrusively withdrew to the kitchen to clean up, leaving Jane and Maura alone with Angela and Frankie. Jane was still standing behind Maura, but she was making solid eye contact with both her brother and mother.

Angela was fidgeting, clearly wanting to give everyone a hug but restraining herself, as she bid Maura goodbye. "Thank you so much for having us Maura. I'm so glad you're doing so well."

Maura nodded with a smile, knowing that Angela was really talking to Jane. She stepped forward slowly, pulling Angela into the hug she knew was desperately desired. Angela hugged her back with bruising force, small trembles in her arms giving away how much emotion was being restrained.

Maura moved to hug Frankie next, whispering in his ear. "She'll come around. Thanks for coming. Thanks for being so patient. Please make sure Angela is okay, and let me know if I can help."

He nodded as Maura stepped back to Jane, looking at her hopefully. Jane glanced at her thoughtfully, before surprising everyone again and moving over to her mother.

Angela let out a huge sob as Jane pulled her into a hug, her arms snaking around Jane and hanging on as if she would never let go. Frankie couldn't help shedding a few tears as he watched the reconciliation, his gaze meeting Maura's in shared joy. Maura was crying now too, her hand over her grinning mouth in amazement as mother and daughter reconnected.

Jane pulled back with a small smile and immediately grabbed Frankie, hugging him fiercely too. He returned the embrace wholeheartedly, his face shining wetly over a huge smile. Maura could hear sniffles and excited exclamations from the kitchen as everyone realised what was happening. She just couldn't get the giddy smile off her face.

After too short a time, Jane dropped her arms and moved back behind Maura, a small smile still on her face. "Thanks for coming."

Angela was too choked up to speak, so she just nodded and grabbed Frankie's arm for support. He turned Angela towards the door, managing to force out a few strangled words before they left. "Thanks Janie. We'll see you soon, okay?"

Jane simply nodded and watched as they left, Angela watching her through teeming tears until the door closed between them.

Maura immediately spun around and launched herself at Jane, practically crushing her in an excited hug. "You did it! Jane, you were amazing! I'm so proud of you!"

Jane simply rolled her eyes, squirming in the tight embrace. "I just asked for some salt."

Everyone burst into laughter, making their way out of the kitchen to join in a big group hug with a fidgeting Jane in the middle. They finally let go, letting Jane recover from her discomfort at being the centre of attention. The atmosphere in the room was exultant as the clean-up recommenced, as all their hard work over the past three months had paid off in full. Life was truly returning to normal.

After the place was clean, everyone slowly shuffled out, heading home ready for the working week ahead. It would be a big week, so they all needed their rest. Jane and Maura thanked everyone earnestly, knowing how much they owed to these three people. Susie was the last out, unable to restrain herself from enthusiastically hugging Jane one last time before she left.

Finally the house was quiet, and it was just Jane and Maura. They found themselves on the couch, staring thoughtfully into space as they digested the events of the evening and considered the week ahead.

Maura was the first to break the silence. "So, tomorrow is the day. I go back to work."

Jane nodded slowly. "And I start my recertification process."

Maura smiled serenely. "I'm so glad you decided to get your job back. The place hasn't been the same without you there."

Jane let the thought hang in the air for a few moments before replying. "Do you think things will ever be the same?"

Maura shook her head resolutely. "Definitely not. We're all different people than we were four years ago. We've seen more than we wanted to, we've experienced things nobody should ever experience. We've spent too long missing each other and having to find ways to cope alone."

Maura met Jane's gaze with conviction. "But just because it's different doesn't mean it's worse. We have a great group of friends that would do anything for us, as we would for them. We know how important the job is, because we know what it was like when the system let us down, and we won't let that happen to anyone else."

A sly grin crept onto Maura's lips. "And you've got super powers now, so the bad guys don't stand a chance."

Jane chuckled lightly at that. "Damn right! I'll show Boston what a bad-ass detective really looks like!"

They both laughed heartily, caught up in the silly moment. It was a nice change from the unshakeable seriousness of the last few months, and they had developed a habit of grabbing any light moments and making the most of them.

Maura sobered first, thinking back on the evening they'd just had. "Jane, what made you talk to your mother? Please don't mistake my meaning, I'm thrilled that you did. But you were so worried before they arrived, I just don't follow how you got from almost panicked to hugging your mother goodbye."

Jane stared into space in contemplation for a minute before answering seriously. "I was terrified before they arrived, because I wasn't sure. I knew I didn't want to hurt them, I knew they hadn't done anything to me, I knew I didn't need to be afraid of them, but I wasn't sure I could stop myself hurting them. I had thought I could never hurt you, but then it happened. I just didn't want anything like that to happen again."

Maura tilted her head questioningly. "So what changed your mind? What made you face your fear and speak to her?"

Jane raised an eyebrow. "What, I couldn't have just needed the salt?"

The disbelieving look she received made Jane chuckle. "Okay, no, I didn't need the salt. I needed to just stop being afraid of myself and get on with things. I've been hiding here, hiding behind you, hiding behind everyone, and it was necessary at the start. I needed to hide. I wasn't ready. But now, thanks to you and Susie I have my mind back, thanks to you and Nina I have my face back, thanks to you and Korsak I have my life back. It's up to me to take advantage of all the help you've given me and just choose to live again."

Maura smiled warmly. "That makes two of us. I've been hiding too, remember. Then I watched you transform yourself back into Jane Rizzoli. You never gave up, you never let what someone else had done to you win, and you never let me give up either. You inspired me to do better. It made me admit that I was letting my fear control me and decide to stop, which is why I'm going back to work tomorrow rather than staying here hidden away from the world."

Jane smiled. "We really did it, huh? We took on the worst life could throw at us, and we won."

Maura nodded in wholehearted agreement. "And we always will."

* * *

Thanks for coming on this ride with me! I have greatly appreciated every review, cheers for all your feedback! I intend to write more stories, so please let me know if there was something in the story you particularly did or didn't like for future reference! For those who have been patiently waiting on updates to Fire in the Blood, I will be getting back to that universe now that this one is complete. It'll take me a little while to get back into it, but it will be happening!

I need to especially thank JaneyGWF, without whom this story wouldn't exist. She gave me the initial prompt that started it off, and she has edited every word, talked over every plot point and gone through every bump and bruise with me. Please go check out her stuff too if you haven't already done so!

I have thoroughly enjoyed spinning this tale, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I loved writing it! Bye for now!


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